i699        Plainfield        jg 
Bicentennial 


^v_y  1  v^ 


GEN.  JOHN   DOUGLASS. 

From  an  old  painting. 


Plainfield 


Bicentennial 

AlOyXI^lR  VOLUME 

—  COMPRISING  THE  — 

SPEECHES,  HISTORICAL  PAPERS,  POEMS 
AND  GENERAL  EXERCISES 


—  AT  THE  — 


OBSERVANCE  OF  THE  TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

OF   THE    ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    TOWN    OF 

PLAINFIELD,  CONN.,  AUG.  31st,   1899 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 
BICENTENNIAL  COMMITTEE 


Press  of 
Thb  Bulletin  Company,  Norwich,  Conn. 


PLAINFIELD'S  BICENTENNIAL. 


The  project  of  celebrating  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of 
Plainfield's  existence  as  a  town  was  discussed  early  in  the  present 
year,  and  in  May  an  informal  meeting  was  held  at  the  Central 
Village  library,  and  steps  were  taken  towards  having  the  matter 
introduced  in  town-meeting.  On  June  5th  the  town  unanimously 
voted  to  have  a  bicentennial  celebration  and  appointed  a  general 
committee  of  fifteen  tO'  take  the  whole  matter  in  charge,  with  power 
to  appoint  subcommittees.  From  that  date  the  enterprise  was 
pushed  energetically,  the  committees  working  harmoniously  and 
with  commendable  zeal.  This  resulted  in  the  celebration  on  Thurs- 
day, August  31st,  one  of  the  most  pleasing  and  successful  occasions 
Windham  County  has  ever  witnessed. 

The  weather  was  delightful,  and  all  the  details  were  carried  out 
in  an  excellent  manner.  From  a  stand  erected  for  the  occasion  on 
the  hotel  lawn,  Governor  Lo'Unsbury  and  staff  reviewed  the  parade, 
following  which  were  music  and  addresses  in  the  order  elsewhere 
given. 

A  notable  feature  of  the  celebration  was  the  colonial  exhibit  in 
the  vestry  of  the  First  Church,  a  rare  collection  of  articles,  antique 
and  valuable,  from  Plainfield  and  Canterbury.     Of  the  people  on 


4  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Plainfield  street  that  day — about  seven  thousand — a  large  number 
visited  the  exhibition  with  great  interest  and  pleasure.  This  cannoi 
be  reproduced  upon  these  pages,  but  will  long  be  remembered. 

The  historical  papers  following  were  prepared  by  individual 
members  of  the  Historical  Committee,  and  with  a  poem  by  Rev.  John 
Troland,  of  Norwich,  and  the  other  proceedings  at  the  celebration, 
are  here  presented  tO'  the  citizens  and  friends  of  Plainfield  by  the 
editors  appointed  by  the  town  committee. 

Charles  F.  Burgess. 
Henry  T.  Arnold. 
Plainfield,  Sept.  21,  1899. 


COMMITTEES. 


Members  of  the  Town  Committee  of  Fifteen. 

HON.  JOSEPH  HUTCHINS,  Chairman.  FRED  T.  JOHNSON,   Clerk. 

F.  H.  TILLINGHAST,  Treasurer. 

Joel  M.  Hunt,  Floyd  Cranska,  Judge  Waldo  Tillinghast,  M.  A.  Linnell, 
Charles  E.  Barber,  James  L.  Gardner,  M.  D.,  Henry  C.  Starkweather, 
Jerry  Doyle,  Jason  P.  Lathrop,  A.  B.  Mathewson,  W.  H.  Browning, 
Frank  Miller,  Rev.  John  Oldham. 

Subcommittees. 

INVITATION  AND  RECEPTION.— Hon.  Joseph  Hutchins,  Frank  H. 
Tilling-hast,  Floyd  Cranska,  Fred  T.  Johnson,  George  Torrey. 

HISTORICAL  AND  PRINTING.— James  L,.  Gardner,  M.  D.,  Rev.  S.  H. 
Fellows,  Rev.  H.  T.  Arnold,  Frank  H.   Tillinghast,  Charles  F.  Burgess. 

COLONIAL  EXHIBIT.— Arnold  B.  Mathewson,  Charles  E.  Barber,  Judge 
Waldo  Tillinghast,  Rev.  H.  T.  Arnold,  Rev.  Elisha  Sanderson,  Commit- 
tee of  the  D.  A.  R.  and  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Circle,  G.  A.   R. 

MUSIC— Floyd  Cranska,  John  T.  Leach,  L.  W.  Cleveland,  E.  W.  Mathewson, 
John  E.  Vaughn.  Fred  W.  Lester,  Norwich,  Choral  Director.  Mrs.  W. 
W.  Adams,  Accompanist. 

POLICE  AND  CONSTABULARY.— George  R.  Bliven,  Joel  M.  Hunt,  Charles 
F.  Burgess,  S.  A.  Clarke,  George  G.  Chipman. 

SPEAKERS'  STAND  AND  SEATING.— H.  C.  Starkweather,  William 
Shepard,  Jason  P.  Lathrop,  Walter  Kingsley,  Henry  B.  Lester. 

STREET  PARADE.— Joel  M.  Hunt,  Chas.  E.  Barber,  F.  H.  Edgarton, 
Marcele  Jette,  A.  H.  Mathewson. 


6  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Auxiliary  Committees. 

COLONIAL  EXHIBIT.— Miss  Martha  S.  Eaton,  Miss  Isabella  B.  Pratt, 
Lemuel  W.  Cleveland,  Miss  Annie  L.  Tillinghast,  Mrs.  Luther  S.  Eaton, 
Walter  Kingsley,  Miss  Susie  Witter,  Mrs.  Julia  M.  Andrews,  Miss 
Bertha  Spragrue,  John  Gallup,  Mrs.  Henry  Young,  Mrs.  George 
Loring,  Mrs.  W.  D.  Rouse,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Lillibridge,  Sessions  L.  Adams, 
Miss  Bessie  Parker,  Timothy  Parker,  Miss  Nellie  Shepard;  Canterbury — 
Rev.  Wilbur  Johnson,  Miss  Lucy  Baldwin. 

PARADE. — Henry  Dorrance,  Charles  O.  Dodge,  Simon  Sullivan,  Earl  Davis, 
Miss  Martha  S.  Eaton,  Miss  Annie  L.  Tillinghast,  Plainfield;  S.  L.  Adams, 
Miss  Emily  Torrey,  Mrs.  Jennie  Tillinghast,  Central  Village;  H.  N. 
Wood,  Miss  Cora  N.  Wood,  Miss  Bessie  Parker,  Wauregan;  Irving 
Taber,   Miss  Belle  Cray,  Mrs.  Geo.  Chipman,   Moosup. 


ORDER  OF  PARADE. 


JOEL,  M.  HUNT,  Marshal. 

AIDES.— Chas.  C.  Barber,  F.  H.  Edgarton,  Marcel  Jette,  A.  H.  Mathewson, 
S.  Li.  Adams,  I.  A.  Taber,  Joseph  Fournier,  Joseph  Bodo,  Joseph 
Perecia. 

GOVERl^OR'S  ESCORT. 

Reeves'  American  Band  of  Providence. 
G.  A.  R.,  Veteran  Division,  Geo.  R.  Bliven,  Commander. 

The  parade  divisions  formed  at  Moosup  and  Wauregan,  march- 
ing to  Central  Village,  arriving  at  9.00  a.  m. 

FIRST  DIVISION. 

Bicyclists — Ladies    and    Gentlemen.    First,    Moosup.     Second,     Canterbury. 

Third,  Plainfield.     Fourth,  Central  Village.     Fifth,  Wauregan. 

SECOND  DIVISION. 

Platoon,  Police. 

Reeves'  American  Band. 

St.  Jean  Baptist  Society,  Wauregan.    President,  Leo  Pratte.    Vice-President, 

Lewis  Messier. 

St.  Jean  Baptist  Society,  Moosup.    Peter  Burke,  President. 

Moosup  Cornet  Band,  F.  W.  Vassar,  Leader. 

St.    Louis    Society,    Moosup.      General,    Joseph    Piche.      Adjutant    General, 

Hormidas  Couture. 

Mystic   Rose   Council,   K.   of   C,   Wauregan.    Grand   Knight,    Jerry   Doyle. 

Deputy  G.  K.,  Julian  Martin. 

Wauregan  Cornet  Band,  John  T.  Leach,  Leader. 

Atwood    Hose    Company,    Wauregan.     Foreman,    W.    W.    Wheatley.     First 

Assistant,  F.  S.  Downer.     Second  Assistant,  J.  T.  Leach. 
Hill   Hose   Company,    No.    1,    Moosup.    Foreman,    T.    Morrissey.    Assistant, 

G.  W.  Gifford. 


a  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

THIRD  DIVISION. 
Floats,  Barges,  Representative  of  Organizations,   Corporate  and 
Private  Enterprises. 

CENTRAL,  VILLAGE. 

Torrey  Brothers,  Manufacturers.      M.  S.  Nichols,  Dentifrice. 

A.  J.  Ladd,  Printer. 

Ancient     Order     United     Workmen.     Quinebaug     Lodge     No.     22.     Scene— 

"Charity,  Hope  and  Protection." 

Protection  Lodge   No.   19,   I.   O.   O.   F.     Scene — "David  and  Jonathan." 

Unity  Encampment  No.  21,  I.  O.  O.  F.     Scene — "Abraham  and  Isaac." 

Sarah  Rebekah  Lodge  No.  34,  I.  O.  O.  F.     Scene— "Rebekah  at  the  Well." 

WAUREGAN. 

Wauregan  Mill  Company.  Scene — "A  Representation  of  the  Cotton  Industry." 
Wauregan  Village.    First,    "Young  America."    Second,    "A   Nosegay,   from 

Grandma's  Garden." 

PLAINFIELD. 

Plainfleld  Grange  Floats — First,    "Log  Cabin  Scene,    1799."     Second,    "Uncle 

Sam  on  John  Bull."     Third,  "The  Farmer  Feeds  Us  All." 

J.  P.  Kingsley  &  Sons,  Merchants. 

Packerville  Float. 

MOOSUP. 
Order  of   the  Eastern   Star. 
American  Mechanics,  Men  and  Float. 
American  Woolen  Co.  Mill.     Scene — "An  Industrial  Representation." 
Plainfleld  Journal,   The  Press.     Bodo  Brothers,   Merchants.     A.   B.    Sprague^ 
Carriages.     Goldberg   Brothers,    Merchants.       E.    E.    Dupuis,    Merchant. 
Henry  E.  Elliot,  Merchant.     C.  D.   Salisbury,   Merchant.     C.   A.   Sander- 
son, Merchant. 

FOURTH  DIVISION. 

Cavalry,  Indians,  Etc. 

Review  of  the  procession  from  the  stand  on  the  hotel  lawn,  by  His 
Excellency,  George  E.  Lounsbury,  Governor  of  the  State. 

March  of  the  parade  to  Kingsley's  store,  near  the  depot,  and  counter- 
march, repassing  the  reviewing  stand  to  the  old  brick  school-house,  where 
it  disbanded. 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES. 


ELEVEN  A.  M. 

Invocation — Rev.  Wilbur  Johnson,  Canterbury. 

Opening  Address — Rev.  s.  H.  Fellows,  President  of  the  Day. 

Historical  Address — "Plainfield  Beginnings," 

Miss  Ellen  D.  Larned,  Thompson. 
Selection — Reeves'  American  Band. 

Poem — Henry  M.  Witter,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Read  by  his  granddaughter.  Miss  Mary  Witter  Flint. 

Solo — "The  Breaking  Waves  Dashed  High,"        .        _        .        .        .        Brown 

Mrs.  W.  W.  Adams. 

Oration — Judge  Daniel  W.  Bond,  Waltham,  Mass. 

Selection — Overture,    "William  Tell,"    -------        Rossini 

Reeves'  American  Band. 

1   TO  2— COLLATION. 

Selections   during  intermission   by  Wauregan   and   Moosup   Bands. 

TWO  P.   M. 

Chorus — "Heaven   and   the  Earth   Display,"        -        -        _        -        Mendelssohn 
Address — His  Excellency,  George  E.  Lounsbury,  Governor  of  Connecticut. 

Music — "II    Trovature,"        ----------        Ycrdi 

Reeves'  American  Band. 

Address — Congressman  Charles  A.  Russell. 

Chorus — "To    Thee,    O    Country,"        -.-_-_-        Eichberff 

Poem — George  S.   Burleigh,  Providence,  R.  I. 

Read  by  his  grandniece.  Miss  Agnes  Burleigh  Allen. 

Music,  Solo — "Barbara  Frietchie,"        ------       Jules  Jordan 

Mrs.  N.  G.   Ladd. 

Address — Rev.  J.  P.  Brown,  New  London. 


lO  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Address — Mr.  C.  E.  Tillinghast,  New  York. 

Chorus— "Let  the  Hills   and  Vales   Resound,"        _        -        -        -        Richards 

Address — Judge  E.  M.  Warner,  Putnam. 

Music — Selection,     "Bohemian    Girl,"        _.-----        Balle 

Reeves'  American  Band. 
Address— Rev.  Charles  H.  Spalding,  D.  D.,  Boston. 
Singing — "America,"  Chorus,  Band  and  Audience. 

CONCERT  BY  AMERICAN  BAND.— 5.15  P.  M. 
D.  W.  REEVES,  Director. 

1.  March— "Demming,"       -         ---------        Reeves 

To  H.  C.   Demming,  Esq.,   President  of  Park  Commissioners. 

2.  Overture — "Zampa,"       ----------        Herold 

3.  (fl)  March— "Hands   Across    the    Sea,"        ------        Sousa 

(b)  Rag  Time— "A  Warm  Reception,"       -----  Anthony 

4.  Medley  of  Popular  Songs,     ---------      Mackie 

6.  Tone  Picture — "Germans  before  Paris,"     ------    Trenkler 

EVENING  CONCERT.— 7.30  P.  M. 

1.  March— "Stars    and   Stripes,"        _-__----        8ousa 

2.  Overture — "Semeramis,"         ---------      Rossini 

3.  (a)  March — "Convention,"      ---------        Reeves 

(h)  Irish  Rag  Time — "McAlheeney's  Cake  Walk,"  -        -  Balfmore 

A.  Solo  for  Cornet— By  Mr.  B.  R.  Church. 

5.  Grand   Selection — "Tannhauser,"       -  __----      Wagner 

6.  Solo  for  Trombone — Mr.  C.  W.   Sparg. 

7.  (a)  American    Patrol,  -----.__-      Mcacham 
(b)  Salvation    Army,    -----------      Orth 

8.  Grand  Fantasie — "Lohengrin,"  -------        Wagner 

9.  "Star  Spangled  Banner." 


HON.  JOSEPH   HUTCHINS, 

Chairman  of  General  Comnnittee. 


REV.  S.  H.  FELLOWS. 

President  of  the  Day. 


ADDRESSES. 


WELCOMING  ADDRESS. 


Rev.  S.  H.  Fellows. 


Plainfield  makes  no  boast  of  having  been  the  birthplace  of 
presidents,  commodores  or  generals,  or  of  having  occupied  a  con- 
spicuous place  in  the  history  of  the  state  or  nation. 

She  has  a  right  to  claim  that  the  granite  she  has  built  into  her 
church  and  academy,  indicates  the  kind  of  men  she  has  sent  out 
to  fill  important  positions  in  church  and  state. 

We  consider  ourselves  honored  to-day  in  the  presence  of  our 
governor  and  his  staff,  and  all  others  who  have  kindly  accepted  our 
invitation,  to  join  in  this  celebration,  and  contribute  to  its  success. 

In  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  the  town  and  the  committee  of  ar- 
rangements, I  bid  you  one  and  all  a  cordial  welcome. 

As  I  cannot,  like  Joshua  of  old,  command  the  sun  to  stand  still 
in  his  course,  to  lengthen  out  the  day  which  will,  I  fear,  be  too 
short,  pardon  me,  if  I  suggest  to  all  who  have  a  part,  that  they  give 
us  the  cream  of  their  thoughts,  and  leave  the  newspapers  to  gather 

•up  the  rest. 

There  are  few  who  have  the  patience  to  pore  over  and  attempt 
to  decipher  the  musty  records  o'f  the  past,  still  less  who  have  the 
ability  to  make  these  instinct  with  life ;  but  both  these  faculties  are 
the  gift  of  the  noted  historian  of  Windham  County,  whose  name  is 
a  household  word.  She  has  patiently  gathered  up  for  us  the  salient 
points  in  the  200  years  of  the  history  of  this  town  that  we  may  see 
its  beginnings  and  its  growth.  I  take  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you 
the  historian  of  the  day.  Miss  Ellen  D.  Larned. 

If  you  have  your  handkerchiefs,  give  her  a  good  Chautauqua 
salute. 


12  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS. 


Ellen  D,  Larned. 


Two-  hundred  years  ago  this  summer,  May  31,  1699,  the  resi- 
dents of  the  land  both  sides  of  the  Quinebaug  river,  now  included  in 
the  towns  of  Plainfield  and  Canterbury,  met  together  to  organize 
town  government.  Some  thirty  families  then  comprised  this  Quine- 
baug  plantation,  the  larger  proportion  having  their  homes  in  the 
south  part  of  the  eastern  section,  and  we  may  assume  that  the  place 
of  meeting  for  this  purpose  was  in  some  rude  dwelling  not  far  from 
this  present,  pleasant  Plainfield  street.  Rude,  I  say,  for  how  could 
it  be  otherwise.  If  ever  a  people  had  to  battle  for  existence  and 
for  every  square  inch  of  territory,  it  was  the  early  settlers  of  the 
Quinebaug  plantation.  This  beautiful  Quinebaug  Country,  a  tract 
twelve  to  fourteen  miles  square  with  its  broad  valleys,  rich  planting 
fields  and  rolling  hills  on  either  side,  has  been  the  object  of  envy  and 
dissension  as  far  back  as  we  can  penetrate  into  its  history.  Its 
aboriginal  inhabitants,  spiritless  Quinebaugs  as  they  were  called, 
without  head  chief  or  tribal  organization,  were  trampled  under  foot 
by  their  stronger  neighbors,  the  warlike  Narragansetts  and  fiercer 
Pequots,  paying  tribute  to  each  by  turns.  The  Narragansett 
Moosup  gained  such  a  foothold  as  to  affix  his  name  forever  to  the 
largest  branch  of  the  Quinebaug.  White  settlers  venturing  within 
this  stormbelt  were  driven  away  by  threats  of  violence,  and  after 
English  settlement,  the  conquest  of  the  Pequots.  and  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Narragansetts.  the  "white  man's  burden"  w^as  but  slightly 
alleviated.  The  Quinebaug  Country  was  then  claimed  and  battled 
over  by  two  of  the  strongest  men  in  Connecticut,  each  with  his 
following  of  partisans  and  fellow  claimants. 

First  in  the  field  was  John  Winthrop,  son  of  Gov.  John 
Winthrop  of  Massachusetts,  himself  governor  of  Connecticut,  to 
whom  Connecticut  is  indebted  for  its  first  charter,  with  its  wonder- 
fully broad  and  gracious  privileges,  a  man  whose  memory  we  de- 
light to  honor.     Plaving  founded  a  colony  and  set  up  a  saw  mill 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS.  I3 

at  Pequot,  now  New  London,  he  naturally  soug-ht  to  gain  adjacent 
territory,  and  in  1653  secured  a  deed  of  the  Quinebaug  Country 
from  certain  Indians  who  exercised  temporary  authority  and  claimed 
right  of  disposal.  The  bounds  extended  from  ''the  Indian  planting- 
ground  at  Quinebaug,  where  James  his  fort  is"  (now  Danielson),  on 
both  sides  the  river  that  runneth  down  towards  Mohegan,  and  the 
plantation  upon  the  sea,  and  included  all  the  swamps  of  cedar,  pine, 
spruce  and  other  timber,  suitable  for  the  supply  of  the  Winthrop 
saw  mill.  The  whole  tract  01  country  now  included  in  Plainfield 
and  Canterbury  was  made  over  to  Winthrop  for  "a  coat"  at  once 
donned  by  the  savage  chieftain,  with  "a  roll  of  trucking  cloth,  two 
rolls  of  red  cotton,  wampum,  stockings,  tobacco  pipes  and  tobacco." 
The  General  Court  under  the  circumstances  could  do  no  less  than 
"'allow  the  Governor  his  Indian  purchase  at  Quinebaug,"  with 
liberty  to  erect  thereon  a  plantation. 

The  disturbed  condition  of  public  afifairs  delayed  settlement  till 
after  King  Philip's  war  and  the  deposition  of  Sir  Edmond  Andrus ; 
and  by  that  time  our  second  claimant  had  appeared  upon  the  field, 
the  worshipful  Major  James  Fitch  of  Norwich,  a  man  who  by  his 
masterful  character  and  influence  over  the  Indians  exercised  more 
power  at  that  date  than  any  man  in  Connecticut.  Uncas,  sachem 
of  the  Mohegans,  laid  claim  to  a  vast  tract  of  country  by  virtue  of 
Pequot  descent  and  conquest,  and  had  given  the  Quinebaug  Coun- 
try and  other  tracts  to  his  son  Owaneco,  who  in  1680  made  over 
all  his  right  and  title  to  any  and  all  of  his  lands  and  meadows  unto 
his  loving  friend,  James  Fitch,  Jun.,  who'  was  made  by  General  Court 
legal  guardian  of  this  drunken  and  flexible  Owaneco.  Tlie  Win- 
throp claim  was  now  maintained  by  Gov.  Winthrop's  sons,  Fitz 
John  and  Wait,  and  bc^th  factions  essayed  to  encourage  settlement 
and  plantation  work. 

This  land  embroilment  makes  it  difficult  to  trace  the  order  of 
settlement  as  deeds  of  land  received  from  either  claimant  were  after- 
wards set  aside.  A  number  of  respectable  families  from  Massa- 
chusetts towns  purchased  land  of  the  Winthrops  and  entered  upon 
possession  about  1689.  Major  Fitch  is  said  to  have  been  more 
careless  in  the  admission  of  settlers,  allowing  privateers  and  even 


14  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

some  from  Rhode  Island  to  gain  a  footing.  All  classes  alike  labored 
under  very  great  diffictdties  arising  from  absolute  insecurity  of  title. 
Land  broken  up,  crops  toilfully  raised  could  be  seized  and  harried 
off  by  opposing  claimants.  Other  claims  besides  those  of  the 
honorable  governor  and  worshipful  major  made  confusion  more 
confounded.  The  same  land  had  been  granted  to  different  persons 
v^ho  battled  for  possession.  The  early  records  of  New  London 
county  courts  are  filled  with  complaints  of  high-handed  violence ; 
fences  are  torn  down,  bounds  obliterated ;  youngsters  from  Norwich 
seize  and  carry  off  corn  from  the  Indians'  planting  ground ;  names 
still  honored  in  both  towns  figure  in  report  as  clinching  with  clubs 
and  hatchets ;  the  major  himself  is  arraigned  as  a  "Land  Pirate." 
Your  honored  townsman,  Judge  Gallup,  reports  that  his  ancestor — 
one  of  six  brothers  concerned  in  these  squabbles — was  actually 
driven  off  into  Voluntown  as  a  specially  obnoxious  "land-grabber." 
Details  of  this  stormy  period  may  but  be  left  to  Carlyle's  "wise 
oblivion."  Under  the  circumstances  it  could  scarce  have  been 
otherwise,  and  enough  has  been  given  to  show  under  what  great 
difficulties  Plainfield  was  founded. 

One  gleam  of  romance  illumines  this  dark  picture.  Among 
the  settlers  are  two  young  brothers  from  Concord,  not  included 
among  the  belligerents  and  holding  their  land  on  an  independent 
footing.  Tradition  reports  them  as  coming  in  advance  of  others. 
There  were  no  dime  novels  in  those  days,  but  they  may  have  heard 
of  John  Smith  and  sea-faring  adventurers.  Other  settlers  trudged 
over  the  old  Connecticut  path  leading  from  Boston  tO'  New  York, 
or  followed  Indian  trails,  Greenwich  and  Nipmuck  paths,  but  these 
adventurous  youth  boarded  a  sloop  at  Boston  which  brought  them 
round  to  Pequot  harbor,  and  there  they  encountered  Indians  who 
told  them  of  goodly  land  in  the  Ouinebaug's  Country  and  brought 
them  up  stream  in  their  canoes  until  they  had  passed  the  Great 
Bend,  Wanungatuck,  where  they  landed  and  made  their  home.  We 
cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  this  picturesque  voyage  of  discovery 
with  all  its  romantic  details,  but  we  know  as  a  positive  fact  that  these 
two  young  men  from  Concord — Isaac  and  Samuel  Shepard — either 
by  sea  or  land  "got  there  all  the  same,"  that  they  recorded  at 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS.  I5 

Norwich  a  deed  of  land  from  Owaneco;  that  their  names  do  not 
appear  among  raiders  or  defenders ;  that  they  hved  in  peace  and 
harmony  with  their  Indian  friends  and  neighbors ;  brought  their 
old  mother  and  her  second  husband  tO'  share  in  their 
purchase  and  prosperity;  and  that  old  Shepard  Hill  and 
a  goodly  line  of  descendants  bear  witness  of  them  unto 
this  day.  But  for  them  we  should  hardly  know  of  the  Indians, 
occupying  their  old  haunts  and  hunting  fields,  keeping  Black  Hill 
burned  over  to  furnish  grazing  for  deer,  bringing  gifts  of  game  and 
fish  and  acquiring  a  taste  for  cider  and  spirits  that  carried  them  ofif 
by  scores  to  the  ancient  Sagamore  burying  ground.  Feared  at  first 
by  the  whites,  they  soon  recognized  their  harmless  character  and 
no  Indian  disturbances  are  recorded  in  Plainfield  annals. 

In  other  respects  our  settlers  were  wholly  at  disadvantage, 
debarred,  as  they  forcibly  present  in  their  petitions,  from  regular 
orderly  settlements,  no  roads  but  those  "trod  out"  as  occasion  de- 
manded, no  schools,  no  church  privileges,  no  town  officials,  and  the 
very  delicate  question  at  issue  between  such  prominent  men  as  the 
Winthrops  and  Major  Fitch  made  such  settlement  impossible  until 
this  matter  of  title  was  thoroughly  investigated,  and  with  that  the 
General  Court  was  as  yet  unable  to  grapple.  Even  county  priv- 
ileges were  not  granted  until  1697,  when  the  Quinebaug  Country 
was  included  in  New  London  County.  Still  the  settlement  was 
growing,  for  that  same  year  Major  Fitch  took  personal  possession 
of  his  farm  at  Peagscomsuck,  west  side  of  the  river.  Other  sub- 
stantial settlers,  Adams,  Paine,  the  Clevelands,  founded  homes  west 
of  the  river.  The  Puritan  spirit  assisted  itself  in  attempts  at  "law 
and  order"  and  religious  services;  a  minister  was  procured  and  in 
May,  1699,  a  petition  was  presented  the  general  assembly  for  town 
privileges,  and  a  specified  committee  tO'  lay  out  allotments  and 
arrange  a  "peaceable,  honorable,  speedy  and  righteous  laying  out  of 
lots  and  divisions  of  land  and  meadows."  This  petition  was  signed 
by  fifteen  east  side  settlers,  viz.,  Isaac  and  Samuel  Shepard,  John, 
Edward  and  Joseph  Spalding,  Thomas  and  Timothy  Pierce,  Richard 
Pellett,  Benjamin  Rood,  John  Fellows,  James  Ringsbury,  Thomas 
Harris,  Matthias  Button,  Jacob  Warren,  Nathaniel  Jewell.     Nine 


l6  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Others  signed  who  were  west  side  residents  :  Robert  Green,  Richard 
Adams,  Samuel  and  Joseph  Cleveland,  Obadiah  and  William  John- 
son, Thomas  Brooks. 

B)^  act  of  assembly  town  privileges  were  granted,  provided  it 
did  not  prejudice  any  particular  person's  property.  Bounds  were  ten 
miles  east  and  west,  eight  miles  north  and  south,  abutting  southerly 
on  Norwich  and  Preston  bounds,  westerly  on  Windham,  and  his 
honor  Gov.  Fitz  John  Winthrop  named  the  town  Plainfield,  and  so 
after  this  long  period  of  debate  and  strife  our  Plainfield  ancestors 
met  together  that  last  day  of  May,  1699,  ^^^^  organized  towai  govern- 
ment. It  was  not  a  very  full  or  enthusiastic  meeting.  Major  Fitch 
and  his  brother  land-grabbers  were  conspicuously  absent.  There 
were  breakers  ahead,  but  this  handful  of  men  did  the  best  they  could. 
They  put  in  for  town  clerk  a  good  man,  James  Deane.  We  know 
he  was  good  for  he  kept  the  best  records  of  any  town  clerk  in 
Windham  County;  well  written,  well  spelt  (for  the  times),  full  and 
accurate ;  moreover  he  was  a  pillar  of  the  church  and  left  by  will  to 
his  oldest  son,  James,  that  precious  "great  bible"  still  cherished  by 
western  descendants.  Jacob  Warren,  Joseph  Spalding,  Stephen 
Hall,  William  Johnson  and  Samuel  Adams  were  chosen  selectmen; 
John  Fellows,  constable;  Thomas  Williams,  surveyor.  Many  things 
were  needful  for  this  new  town,  but  the  one  thing  they  thought 
most  needful  was  a  minister,  and  the  only  additional  vote  at  this 
first  Plainfield  town  meeting  was :  "To  give  the  Rev.  Mr.  Coit  a 
call  for  one-quarter  of  a  year  for  ten  pounds ;  Stephen  Hall, 
Nathaniel  Jewell,  Joseph  Spalding  and  Thomas  Williams  to  go  and 
treat  with  him,  receive  his  answer  and  return  it  to  the  town." 

Mr.  Coit  came  and  preached  for  the  summer,  holding  service  on 
either  side  of  the  Quinebaug  by  turns,  and  by  autumn  affairs  were 
so  quieted  that  all  agreed,  whether  or  not  their  land  disputes  were 
settled,  they  must  have  a  settled  orthodox  ministry  and  regular 
Sabbath  worship.  Nov.  13,  1699,  a  meeting  was  held  at  which 
thirty-eight  inhabitants  signed  an  agreement  to  maintain  "an  able, 
faithful,  orthodox  gospel  minister,  so  as  that  the  sure  worship  of 
God  may  be  at  all  times  upheld  and  maintained  amongst  us ;"  the 
townsmen  to  take  special  care  of  his  maintenance  and  accommoda- 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS.  17 

tions.  James  Fitch  heads  the  hst  of  subscribers  to  this  agreement, 
followed  by  eleven  other  west  side  settlers.  Other  signatures  are 
those  of  Thomas  Stevens,  William  Douglas,  Henry  Walbridge, 
Daniel  Woodward,  William  Marsh,  Joshua  Whitney,  Tixhall  Ens- 
worth,  John  Smith,  Edward  Baldwin,  Joseph  Parkhurst,  John  Dean, 
Samuel  Howe,  Peter  Crary.  Jacob  Warren  was  chosen  east  side 
collector,  Richard  Adams  west  side.  Further  arrangements  were 
made  at  the  February  town  meeting,  held  "at  the  house  of  Isaac 
Shepard's  present  aboad,"  and  Mr.  Coit  was  retained  in  charge. 

This  agreement  though  made  in  good  faith  was  found  greatly 
inconvenient.  The  Ouinebogus  river  was  the  chief  obstacle.  This 
"tedious"  and  turbulent  "stream  involved  our  settlers  in  a  long 
labarynth  of  diliticulties."  It  is  hard  to  recognize  our  tractable  and 
friendly  Quinebaug  in  this  fierce  and  ferocious  torrent,  not  to  be 
paralleled  in  the  colony  for  depth  and  untimely  freshets.  All  our 
residents,  whites  and  Indians,  had  canoes,  and  the  Shepard  brothers 
rigged  up  something  like  a  ferry  boat  for  the  accommodation  of 
travelers,  but  the  passage  to  and  fro  at  certain  seasons  was  extremely 
difficult  and  even  hazardous,  and  in  1702,  in  another  formal  agree- 
ment, east  and  west  side  settlers  agreed  to  join  in  application  to 
the  General  Court  for  the  grant  of  a  separate  town-ship  on  the  west 
side.  The  dividing  bound  to  be  the  Quinebaug  to  the  centre  of 
Peagscomsuck  Island,  thence  a  straight  line  to  south  bound  of  town. 
This  agreement  was  signed  by  twenty-four  east  side  and  ten  west 
side  inhabitants,  with  three  worthy  ministers  for  witnesses.  The 
joint  petition  was  accepted  by  the  General  Court,  and  the  wxst  side 
incorporated  in  1703  is  the  town-ship  of  Canterbury. 

Previous  to  this  corporation  attempts  had  been  made  to  settle 
that  still  more  formidable  land  dispute.  First  a  committee  appointed 
by  the  General  Court  met  at  the  Peagscomsuck  plantation.  May  21, 
lyoi,  tO:  take  testimony,  find  out  and  renew  the  bounds  of  the 
Quinebaug  Country,  purchased  by  John  Winthrop.  It  was  a  re- 
markable o-athering.  J\lajor  General  Wait  Winthrop  was  there  to 
represent  the  claim  in  behalf  of  himself  and  his  brother,  the  present 
Governor;  Tracy,  Leffingwell,  Bushnell  and  other  Norwich  mag- 
nates. Major  Fitch  with  his  following  of  counsellors  and  fellow 
2 


l8  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

claimants,  all  the  residents  of  both  sides  the  Quinebaug,  and  all  the 
Indians  that  could  be  mustered  of  every  clan  and  tribelet — Mohe- 
gans,  Narragansetts,  Shetuckets,  Ouinebaugs.  A  Pequot  had  been 
exhumed  from  that  defunct  tribe.  They  had  even  brought  down 
old  John  Aquatimang  from  Woodstock,  who  seventy  years  before 
had  carried  corn  to  needy  Boston  settlers.  What  would  we  not 
give  for  one  snap  shot  of  this  varied  and  picturesque  assembly. 

Our  timid  Quinebaug  residents  so  quailed  before  the  presence 
of  Owaneco  that  they  had  to  be  taken  aside  before  they  dared  to. 
give  their  testimony.  After  a  full  examination  of  all  these  witnesses, 
the  committee  with  a  long  train  of  guides.  Indians  and  interested 
spectators  proceeded  to  search  for  the  bounds  thus  indicated.  They 
went  first  to  the  point  designated  as  Hyem's  fort  and  the  Indian 
Planting  Ground  and  affixed  the  northern  boundary  from  Aquid- 
neck  to  Uhquanchaug;  next  to  the  Little  Falls,  Lowontuck,  about 
three  miles  south  of  Major  Fitch's  house,  which  they  adjudged  to- 
be  the  south  bound  of  the  purchase.  Thence  on  the  east  and  west 
"to  hills,  meadows,,  sv/amps,  plains,  rivers  and  brooks,"  identifying- 
and  giving  Indian  names  to  these  several  points  and  formally  as- 
signing bounds  for  this  ancient  Quinebaug  Country.  The  General 
Court  received  the  report  of  committee  and  allowed  a  record  thereof, 
and  there  the  matter  rested  for  five  years.  Finding  it  impossible- 
under  existing  circumstances  tO'  carry  forward  that  much  desired 
"peaceable,  honorable,  righteous"  settlement  of  lands  and  meadows,; 
and  difficulties,  contentions  and  law  suits  continually  increasing,  the 
General  Court  was  forced  again  to  take  the  matter  in  hand  and  in 
1706  with  the  consent  of  Gov.  Winthrop  and  Major  Fitch  appointed 
six  honorable  gentlemen  as  commissioners  to  inform  themselves  of 
the  true  source  of  these  unhappy  dififerences  and  endeavor  an  am- 
icable compromise,  if  "the  cause  of  all  these  actions  and  suits  with 
the  whole  of  these  troubles  and  vexations  be  not  previously  re- 
moved." In  point  of  fact  a  compromise  was  effected  before  recep- 
tion of  commissioners'  report.  The  point  at  issue  as  to  the  Indian 
title  was  one  of  great  difficulty.  In  that  period  when  it  was  so 
difficult  to  obtain  accurate  report  and  surveys  of  this  new  far-ofif" 
land,  it  was  the  policy  of  the  British  government  not  to  disturb 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS.  I9 

bounds  and  titles  once  admitted,  especially  when  influential  parties 
were  concerned  and  large  interests  at  stake ;  and  the  fact  that  Con- 
necticut government  had  confirmed  both  Winthrop  purchase  and 
Mohegan  claim,  made  decision  in  favor  of  either  claimant  practically 
impossible.  And  so  the  Winthrops  yielded  their  claim,  receiving  a 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  each  town ;  and  Plainfield  was  granted  a 
patent  confirming  tO'  its  inhabitants  the  remainder  of  her  territory. 

We  leave  the  legal  points  of  this  famous  land  case  for  our  friend, 
Judge  Bond,  to  elucidate.  Personally  I  may  say  that  I  do  not  see 
how  those  renegade  Narragansetts  could  convey  a  legal  title  to  land, 
which  according  to  one  of  their  own  people  they  did  not  possess. 
Roger  Williams  in  1668  reports  that  the  Narragansetts  had  for  a 
long  time  given  up  their  claim  tO'  the  Nipmuck  Country.  Our 
Indian  authority,  the  late  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  was  of  opinion  that 
the  Winthrop  claim  was  not  tenable.  You  must  not  be  surprised, 
however,  if  our  judge  reverses  this  verdict.  No  twO'  people  are  ex- 
pected to  agree  upon  this  Quinebaug  land  muddle.  And  as  both 
Great  Britain  and  Connecticut  shirked  decision,  we  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  settle  it.  The  views  of  Major  Fitch  upon  this  compromise 
we  leave  for  Canterbury's  bicentennial  in  1903. 

With  patent  in  hand  Plainfield  could  now  accomplish  that  long 
delayed  division  of  lands  and  meadows.  Inhabitants  under  previous 
irregular  purchases  and  grants  now  relinquished  their  rights  to  the 
town,  receiving  in  return  a  formal  allotment,  and  promise  of  share 
in  future  divisions.  Each  land  holder  retained  his  original  home- 
stead and  care  was  taken  to-  make  additional  allotments  accessible. 
Our  good  James  Deane  gave  to  the  town  his  land  east  side  Mill 
Brook,  "hoping  that  it  might  tend  to  the  speedy  and  quiet  settle- 
ment of  the  town,  though  much  to  his  loss."  A  similar  spirit  of 
accommodation  and  self-sacrifice  was  manifest  by  others.  Matthias 
Button  received  his  hundred  acres  in  two^  parts  to  prevent  any 
hindrance  to  the  setting  up  a  corn  mill  on  Moosup's  river.  John 
Gallup,  Jun..  was  granted  the  lot  he  now  lives  on,  John  Gallup,  Sen., 
"the  lot  adjoining  his  son's."  William  Gallup  was  allowed  a  lot, 
provided  "he  bring  his  family  to-  it  in  some  reasonable  time  and  there 
settle  with  his  family."     Peter  Crary,  "provided  he  do  speedily  settle 


20  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

his  family  upon  it."  New  inhabitants  gained  title  to  all  these 
privileges  by  paying  three  pounds  money,  into  the  town  treasury. 
The  broad  valley  of  the  Quinebaug,  Plainfield's  corn  belt,  was  re- 
served as  a  general  field,  a  committee  proportioning  the  enclosing 
fence  to  the  proprietors.  To  record  these  rules  and  divisions  our 
faithful  town  clerk  was  empowered,  to  provide  three  suitable  books 
for  the  town  and  to  make  suitable  alphabets  to  them ;  one  book  to 
record  town  acts ;  one  for  births,  marriages  and  deaths ;  and  one 
to  record  the  laws. 

Indian  disturbances  called  out  attention  from  the  town.  In- 
habitants were  forbidden  to  leave  without  permission ;  guard-houses 
and  scouts  were  ordered ;  equipments  and  ammunition  provided ; 
Plainfield's  first  military  company  was  formed  in  1707,  Thomas 
Williams,  ensign.  With  all  Plainfield's  difificulties  and  obstructions 
it  should  be  noted  that  her  meeting-house  was  the  first  ready  for 
service  within  Windham  Co.  territory,  six  months  even  in  advance 
of  that  of  Windham.  Other  improvements  were  now  in  progress ; 
saw  and  corn  mills  on  Mill  Brook  and  Moosup's  river  and  ways  laid 
out  to  them  and  laws  passed  restraining  cattle  and  horses  from  the 
general  field  under  penalty  of  five  pence  a  head  from  the  owner  of 
such  trespassers. 

In  1707  the  land  division  was  completed — the  whole  territory 
exclusive  of  meadows  and  General  Field  being  included  in  five 
sections  called  "eighth."  The  very  clear  description  of  these  sec- 
tions and  individual  allotments  enables  descendents  of  these  old 
settlers  to  identify  these  home  lots  in  the  several  divisions.  "Snake," 
"Appletree"  and  "Half"  meadows  were  laid  out  in  five  and  one- 
fourth  acres  to  each  proprietor.  Forty  twelve-acre  divisions  were 
laid  out  in  the  General  Field,  being  the  third  twelve-acre  division 
within  this  Field.  Interval  land  was  laid  out  in  sixty  proportions, 
each  man  making  his  pitch  according  to  his  draft.  This  work  being 
accomplished  Plainfield  was  expected  to  bear  her  part  of  the  public 
charges.  The  list  of  estates  in  1707  were  valued  at  £1,265;  ^^~ 
habitants,  fifty ;  and  John  Fellows  was  sent  to  represent  the  town  at 
General  Court.  A  bit  of  land  was  now  allowed  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  a  school,  and  Lieut.  Williams,  Joseph  Spalding  and  Dea. 


PLAINPIELD    BEGINNINGS. 


Douglas  enjoined  to  take  care  that  there  be  one.  Our  ever  ready 
town  clerk  agreed  to  take  that  office  for  half  a  year  "for  what  the 
county  allows,  and  what  parents  and  masters  of  children  shall  agree 
with  me  for." 

In  1709  Plainfield  was  called  to  bear  her  part  in  the  expedition 
against  Canada,  sending  five  men  to  the  field.  A  grant  of  twenty 
acres  of  land  was  allowed  Thomas  Kingsbury,  "providentially  cast 
onto  Plainfield  after  long  captivity,  having  lost  all  that  he  had  by 
the  enemy."  It  was  not  till  171 1  that  the  town  attained  the  dignity 
of  a  full  military  company — Thomas  Williams,  captain;  Timothy 
Pierce,  lieut. ;  William  Douglass,  ensign.  Tempting  rewards  were 
needed  to  keep  certain  small  enemies  from  damage.  A  penny  a 
head  for  blackbirds  and  six  pence  a  crow's  head  was  allowed  during 
the  month  of  May ;  two  pence  for  a  rattlesnake's  tail  "with  some  of 
the  flesh  on  it."  Indians  Jeremy  and  David  having  killed  two 
wolves  "were  each  allowed  ten  shillings  for  the  encouragement  of 
such  work."  Among  other  needful  regulations  it  was  now  ordered 
that  "the  place  which  has  been  improved  by  the  inhabitants  for  the 
burial  of  the  dead  shall  abide  and  remain  for  that  use,"  and  a  con- 
venient way  was  staked  out  to  go  unto  the  same.  A  place  was  also 
designated  for  especial  Indian  use — that  "Old  Sagamore  Burying 
Ground,"  destined  to  receive  the  fading  generations  of  Plainfield's 
first  inhabitants. 

The  road  question  was  then,  as  now,  one  of  perennial  agitation. 
Reference  is  made  in  1710  to  "a  new  bridge  over  the  Quinebaug," 
built  apparently  by  private  enterprise  and  not  of  long  continuance. 
Business  interests  demanded  better  facilities  for  transportation. 
Providence  was  the  most  convenient  market  town.  The  Rhode 
Island  legislature  ordered  in  171 1— that  a  highway  should  be  laid 
out  from  Providence,  through  Warwick  and  West  Greenwich  to 
Plainfield.  Connecticut  was  roused  to  action  by  representations 
of  the  great  difficulties  and  dangers  to  which  travelers  were  exposed 
for  want  of  a  suitable  public  road  through  Plainfield  from  the  centre 
and  south  parts  of  the  town  to  the  eastern  bound.  The  selectmen 
of  the  town  were  ordered  to  lay  out  the  needed  roads,  continuing 
the  same  a  mile  and  a  half  eastward  of  the  bounds  of  the  town. 


22  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

William  Marsh,  John  Fellows  and  Thomas  Stevens  had  charg-e  of 
the  important  work.  The  needful  land  was  given  by  the  owners 
in  consideration  of  the  convenience  and  necessity,  being  the  nearest 
and  best  w^ay  to  and  from  Boston,  Providence,  Narragansett  and 
other  places.  It  was  laid  out  four  rods  wide  throughout  and  eight 
rods  at  certain  places  for  convenience  of  loaded  carts.  A  miry 
slough  near  Daniel  Lawrence's  was  transformed  into  a  good  and 
suf^cient  causeway  by  the  labor  of  some  of  the  inhabitants.  At  the 
Moosup  fordway  east  of  the  town  a  safe  and  sufficient  bridge  was 
constructed  at  the  expense  of  the  colony.  The  opening  of  the  first 
regularly  laid  out  road  from  Providence  to  Connecticut  was  a  great 
advantage  to  the  public  and  a  source  of  profit  and  pleasant  inter- 
change of  intercourse  to  Plainfield.  The  road  to  Boston  through 
Killingly's  rough  domain  was  as  yet  hardly  passable. 

With  land  confirmed,  schools  and  military  company  established, 
convenient  roads  laid  out  and,  above  all,  a  suitable  meeting-house 
and  acceptable  minister,  we  might  hope  that  Plainfield  would  enjoy 
a  season  of  quiet  and  healthy  growth ;  but  the  winds  were  contrary. 
The  loss  of  half  her  territory,  however  essential  to  early  settlement, 
was  a  perpetual  grievance.  To  be  reduced  from  a  12x14  to  a  6x8 
town-ship  was  a  sore  humiliation  not  to  be  borne  with  vacant  land 
lying  on  every  side.  A  number  of  Plainfield's  substantial  citizens 
managed  to  secure  and  retain  a  tract  of  land  on  the  north,  long 
known  as  the  "Owaneco  Purchase."  The  annexation  of  this  strip, 
it  was  pleaded,  would  be  a  great  convenience,  allowing  the  sons  of 
Plainfield  fathers  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  their  own  town  govern- 
ment and  house  of  worship.  On  the  south  Preston  had  encroached 
beyond  specified  bounds,  necessitating  complaints  and  committees. 
Their  great  fight,  however,  was  for  the  vacant  land  eastward,  north 
of  the  Volunteer's  land,  but  "a  small  part  of  it  good  for  improvement, 
generally  a  barren  pine  land,"  and  yet  apparently  essential  to  Plain- 
field's  maintenance  of  public  charges  and  even  existence. 

Still  more  harrowing  was  the  government's  persistence  in  allow- 
ing Canterbury  to  retain  that  valley  land  east  of  the  Quinebaug,  ac- 
cording to  the  solemn  agreement  made  at  the  time  of  separation.  By 
an  unfortunate  blunder  the  original  Act   of  Assembly  made  the 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS.  23 

'Qtiinebaiig  the  dividing-  line  between  the  towns  and  though  the 
«rror  was  quickly  recognized  and  rectified  Plainfield  never  ceased  to 
bewail  or  resent  her  loss.  Plainfield's  petitions  for  enlargement 
upon  these  several  lines  show  not  only  great  ingenuity  but  literary 
merit.  Some  wise  head,  rare  there,  understood  "the  art  of  putting 
things."  Here,  a  plaintive  appeal :— "Unto  whom  shall  the  op- 
pressed apply  themselves?  In  the  first  place,  they  sigh,  they  groan 
and  send  up  their  cry  unto  the  Lord  God,  who  in  his  holy  word 
•directs  in  such  cases  to  apply  ourselves  unto  the  earthly  judges,  our 
rulers  and  fathers.  Thence  it  is,  we,  with  deepest  humility  as  on  our 
bended  knees,  lay  before  you  our  miserable,  deplorable,  undone 
condition  ;  unless  God  or  our  King  or  your  compassionate  selves  will 

relieve  us." 

Then,  a  wheedling  argument  with  reference  to  that  change  m 
the  Canterbury  bound— "We  do  look  upon  it  that  the  grants  of  our 
Honorable  Court  are  like  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  un- 
alterable, and  we  dare  not  entertain  such  diminutive  thoughts  of 
•our  honorable  rulers  that  they  will  act  like  children  to  grant  a  thing 
one  Court  and  then  to  take  it  away  the  next  (if  they  were  able)." 
But  there  w^ere  wise  heads  in  the  General  Assembly  as  well  as  in 
Plainfield  and  with  all  her  pleas  and  argun;ents  she  failed  to  carry 

her  point. 

The  Owaneco  purchase  was  included  within  Killingly  bounds. 
The  vacant  land  east,  so  earnestly  desired  and  sought,  was  annexed 
by  Act  of  Assembly  to  the  Volunteer's  land,  forming  the  north 
part  of  Voluntown  (now  Sterling).  This  land  was  given  by  Con- 
necticut to  her  soldiers  who  had  fought  in  King  Philip's  war,  an  old- 
time  substitute  for  pension  list,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  land- 
grabbers  got  a  larger  share  of  it  than  the  soldiers.  To  these  several 
failures  the  town  submitted  with  more  or  less  grumbling,  but  that 
land  west  of  the  Quinebaug  once  assigned  to  her  she  positively  re- 
fused to  yield,  laying  out  divisions  and  ordering  fences  at  pleasure, 
while  Canterbury  retaliated  by  tearing  down  fences  and  carrying  off 

liay  and  grain. 

A  state  of  chronic  Border  Ruffianism  existed  for  many  years. 
The  Cedar  swamp,  which  by  terms  of  agreement  was  left  free  to 


24  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

both  towns,  became  a  bone  of  contention.  Major  Fitch,  Elisha 
Paine  and  other  prominent  Canterbury  citizens  were  indicted  for 
steaHng  loads  of  hay  and  other  misdemeanors.  Innumerable  law- 
suits were  carried  O'U  between  contending  parties.  Plainfield's  ar- 
raignment of  Canterbury's  ofifences  in  her  final  plea  before  the 
General  Court  in  1721  surpassed  all  her  previous  efforts  in  that  line, 
and  called  out  some  concessions  that  modified  the  situation.  In 
justice  to  Plainfield  we  must  consider  that  land-grabbing  was  the 
peculiar  vice  of  the  age,  in  point  of  fact  there  was  nothing  else  to 
grab.  There  was  no  public  treasury  to  draw  upon ;  no  fat  jobs  or 
offices  to  secure.  Then,  too,  in  the  nature  of  the  case  all  their  at- 
tempted grabs  and  squabblings  were  open  to  public  view.  They 
could  not  get  the  land  without  petition  or  overt  seizure,  nor  skip  oft 
to  Rhode  Island  with  their  loads  of  grain  and  cedar  rails.  We  may 
be  confident  that  we  know  all  the  bad  things  about  them  and  that 
under  the  peculiar  circumstances  they  did  no  worse  than  others  of 
their  generation. 

These  prolonged  difificulties  interfered  with  public  benefits,  and 
especially  with  the  erection  of  a  second  meeting-house  as  until  the 
land  east  was  assigned  to  Voluntown,  the  projected  site  was  intended 
to  accommodate  their  "ppor  neighbors."  After  much  dissension  the 
house  was  ready  for  occupation  in  1720,  about  half  a  mile  north  of 
the  present  edifice  011  Plainfield  street.  School  districts  north  and 
south  of  the  meeting-house  were  set  off  the  same  year,  each  to  order 
its  own  schools.  JoJm  Stoyell  had  previously  conducted  a  public 
school  for  the  whole  town,  the  cost  to  each  child  being  four  pence  a. 
week  beside  the  public  money.  In  1721  Mr.  Walton  maintained 
perambulatory  schools  in  different  sections,  the  town  paying  him 
twelve  pounds,  finding  him  board  and  keeping  a  horse  for  him.  lu 
1725  three  school-houses  had  been  provided. 

The  Ouinebaug  river  still  objecting  to  bridges,  in  1722,  Samuel 
Shepard  was  authorized  by  Assembly  to  maintain"  a  ferry  over  the 
same  for  five  years ;  fee,  four  pence  for  man  and  horse,  he  to  keep 
good  and  suitable  vessels  for  transportation  and  attend  the  service.. 
Taverns  were  allowed  to  accommodate  public  travel,  the  needful 
town  officials  kept  in  service.     A  special  office  required  in  Plainfield 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS.  25 

for  the  protection  of  its  general  field  were  "field-drivers,"  of  whom 
some  twenty-odd  were  appointed  to  repair  rails  and  drive  off 
intruders. 

Thus  at  the  date  of  the  incorporation  of  Windham  County  in 
1726,  Plainfield  was  able  to  take  a  good  position  among  sister  towns, 
with  a  goodly  number  of  inhabitants  and  a  rate-list  of  nearly  £  7,000. 
In  any  historic  retrospect  we  are  always  impressed  with  the  limita- 
tion of  our  knowledge.  We  see  so  little  way  beneath  the  surface. 
These  formal  town  acts,  these  public  doings,  tell  so  little  of  the  real, 
everyday  life  of  the  people.  One  text  of  scripture  tells  all  that  we 
know  of  myriads  of  generations  of  human  beings,  "They  ate,  they 
drank,  they  bought,  they  sold,  they  planted,  they  builded,  they 
married,  they  were  given  in  marriage." 

Connecticut's  first  most  faithful  historian,  Benjamin  Trumbull, 
took  pains  to  collect  personal  details  and  local  incidents  from  every 
town,  and  a  Letter  from  Plainfield  throws  additional  light  upon  some 
of  her  older  settlers.  First  in  position  and  influence  he  places 
Timothy  Pierce  from  Wobum  as  "greatly  useful  in  his  day,  executed 
all  military  offices  as  high  as  colonel ;  justice  of  the  peace  for  many 
years,  judge  of  probate  several  years,  chief  judge  of  the  superior 
court  of  Windham  county  and  one  of  the  Governors'  council,  all 
which  offices  he  executed  with  such  diligence  and  care  as  to  be  un- 
blamable. He  was  a  father  of  the  town  and  a  promoter  of  the  com- 
mon welfare  of  all  when  he  had  opportunity,  of  an  extraordinary 
soul,  pious  and  Christian  conversation." 

His  kinsman,  Thomas  Pierce,  was  another  good  citizen,  "who 
was  the  first  married  man  that  died  in  town."  Another  useful, 
prominent  citizen  was  Thomas  Williams,  first  captain  of  the  train- 
band, justice  of  peace,  town  clerk,  tavern  keeper,  who  left  many 
children  to  represent  an  honored  name.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Coit  is 
reported  as  a  gentleman  of  good  conversation,  an  ornament  to  his 
profession.  Of  the  first  deacons,  William  Douglas,  Jacob  Warren, 
Joshua  Whitney,  and  many  other  of  Plainfield's  first  settlers,  we 
learn  little  more  than  name  and  service. 

And  yet  we  know  all  the  same  that  the  whole  life  of  the  period 
was  not  expressed  in  land-fights  and  town-meetings.     There  were  a 


26  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

hundred  homes  scattered  throughout  this  fair  Quinebaug  Country, 
•each  with  its  own  family  Hfe,  its  social  and  neighborhood  interests. 
Of  the  wives  and  mothers  who  ordered  these  homes,  we  indeed, 
catch  no  glimpses  except  by  dates  of  birth,  death  and  marriages. 
Their  voices  were  not  heard  in  public  nor  even  in  church  meetings 
but  we  may  well  believe  that  they  bore  their  share  in  maintaining 
these  homes  and  forwarding  the  growth  of  the  town. 

Of  the  children  growing  up  in  these  homes  we  catch  one  snap- 
shot from  the  town  records — we  see  Joseph  Lawrence  perched  up  in 
the  gallery  of  that  new  meeting-house — for  what?  To  keep  a  sharp 
lookout  upon  the  boys  and  girls  sitting  in  the  rear  of  the  body  seats 
below — ^^the  girls  on  the  women's  side ;  the  boys  on  the  men's  side. 
And  if  any  of  these  naughty  young  people  did  damage  to  the  meet- 
ing-house "by  opening  the  windows,  or  anywise  damnifying  the 
^lass,  and  if  any  (him  or  her)  did  profane  the  Sabbath  by  laughing  or 
behaving  unseemly,  he  should  call  him  or  her  by  name  and  so  re- 
prove them  therefor."  'And  sO'  we  know  that  these  first  boys  and 
girls  growing  up  in  Plainfield  were  as  bright,  merry  and  saucy  as 
these  of  1899. 

And  in  the  very  hindmost  seat  back  of  the  boys  and  girls  sat 
the  negroes — "male  negroes  behind  the  boys  ;  female  negroes  behind 
the  girls."  There  were  social  distinctions  in  those  days.  Such 
worthies  as  our  Reverend  minister  and  Justices  Pierce  and  Williams 
lived  in  colonial  style  and  owned  slaves  for  body  and  house  servants. 
These  light-hearted,  chatty  Africans  contrasted  oddly  with  the  sur- 
viving Aborigines — ^those  somber  Quinebaugs,  stalking  in  single  file 
from  house  to  house,  demanding  food  and  cider — wandering  Mohe- 
gans,  still  claiming  rights  in  woods  and  streams,  adding  a  picturesque 
element ;  dwelling  for  months  in  the  hunting  season  in  boats  beside 
the  rivers. 

And  there  was  feasting  and  frolicing,  huskings  and  trainings  in 
which  these  young  people  took  a  part,  and  much  skurrying  to  and 
fro  over  those  public  roads  maintained  at  such  cost  and  care,  and 
over  the  Quinebaug  in  canoe  and  ferry  boat.  A  constant  stream  of 
travel  passed  through  the  town  from  Norwich  and  New  London  to 
Providence  and  Boston.     A  brisk  trade  was  carried  on  with  Provi- 


PLAINFIELD    BEGINNINGS. 


27 


dence,  surplus  produce  finding-  there  a  market ;  and  Plainfield  youth 
finding  employment  and  sometimes  wives  there.  And  hard  as  it 
was  for  the  townsmen  to  carry  on  their  own  institutions,  they  were 
ready  to  assist  in  "carrying  on  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel"  in  that 
destitute  town  and  in  building  an  orthodox  house  of  worship  there. 
During  the  early  years  of  settlement  we  hear  no  complaint  of 
•sickness  but  between  1720-25,  severe  epidemics  carried  away  many 
of  the  town  fathers.  With  county  organization  a  new  generation 
came  upon  the  stage,  sons  of  the  first  planters  with  some  older  ones 
still  to  guide  them.  After  all  her  contests  and  difficulties  Plainfield 
was  able  to  take  a  good  position  among  her  sister  towns,  furnishing 
-a  colonel  for  its  regiment,  a  judge  for  the  bench  and  probate  office 
■and  competent  assistants  for  council  and  assembly.  In  one  brief  day 
it  is  impossible  to  give  even  an  abstract  of  twO'  hundred  years'  ex- 
istence. Other  phases  of  its  life  will  be  brought  to  you  by  others. 
Enough  will  come  before  us  tO'  show  how  heartily  we  can  all  join  on 
this  commemorative  occasion  in  thankfulness  for  the  past  and  hope 
•for  the  future. 


PLAINFIELD  IN   1830. 

From  an  old  print. 


28  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

PLAINFIELD,  CONNECTICUT. 


1699  Bicentennial  Celebration  1899 

August  31,  1899. 


No  great  event  of  world-wide  fame 

We  celebrate  to-day ; 
No  proud,  historic  field  can  claim 

The  honors  that  we  pay. 

The  fact  we  here  commemorate 
Will  scarce  detain  us  long, 

Or  much  afiford  of  good  or  great 
For  eulogy  or  song. 

Within  this  wilderness  there  came, 

TwO'  hundred  years  ago, 
Some  settlers,  all  of  humble  name. 

To  lay  the  forest  low. 

Inspired  by  no  ambitious  praise. 
Averse  to  blood  and  strife, 

They  left  the  scenes  of  early  days 
To'  seek  a  quiet  life. 

To  find,  perchance,  amid  these  hills, 
With  all  their  peaceful  charms, 

A  safe  retreat  from  worldly  ills. 
Secure  from  War's  alarms ; 

With  little  thought  their  poor  retreat 
Would  be  a  scene  ol  fame, 

Where  eager  pilgrim  throngs  would  meet. 
And  bless  their  humble  name. 

But  yet,  how  often  we  observe. 

In  Heaven's  eternal  plan. 
That  humblest  means  are  made  to  serve 

God's  purposes  to  man. 


POEM    BV    HENRV    M.    WITTER. 

Attracted  here  a  noble  race 

Of  men  innnred  to  toil, 
Who  braved  the  hardships  of  the  place 

And  tilled  the  fertile  soil. 

The  early  fathers  of  the  town 
Were  of  that  sturdy  stock 

Which  took  its  prestige  and  renown 
From  grand  old  Plymouth  Rock. 

And  with  them  to  this  wilderness, 

In  manly  hearts  they  bore 
'  The  same  religious  earnestness 
The  pilgrims  did  of  yore. 

The  same  grand  love  of  Liberty ; 

The  same  respect  for  Law; 
The  same  broad  Christian  charity 

And  reverential  awe. 

And,  lest  this  ardor  should  abate, 
And  faith  itself  grow  cool, 

They  bro<ught  those  pillars  of  the  State^ 
The  Church  and  Common  School. 

Not  yet,  of  course,  those  forces  raised 
To  present  scope  and  power, 

But  germs  within  the  seed  embraced 
The  bud  but  not  the  flower. 

Yet  many  a  dark  and  bitter  day 
Of  mingled  hopes  and  fears, 

And  many  a  sorrow  marked  the  way 
Of  those  brave  pioneers. 

Full  oft  the  promised  harvest  failed 
And  famine  pressed  them  sore, 

And  many  a  strong  man's  spirit  quailed 
Which  never  quailed  before. 


29 


30 


PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

But  Still  their  faith  did  not  abate, 

Nor  did  their  ardor  cool ; 
They  kept  those  pillars  of  the  State — 

The  Church  and  Common  School. 

They  built  a  simple  school-house,  where 

They  turned  the  virgin  sod ; 
And  near  it  raised,  in  faith  and  prayer, 

A  temple  to  their  God. 

Who  can  recall,  without  a  thrill, 

That  place  of  praise  and  prayer; 
The  old  Stone  Church  upon  the  hill, 

And  those  who  worshipped  there? 

Who  can  compute  the  priceless  worth, 

The  measure  or  extent, 
Of  that  good  influence  on  the  earth, 

Those  earnest  followers  lent? 

Who  stands  unmoved  beside  the  stones 

W'hich  hold  in  sacred  trust 
The  names  of  the  departed  ones 

Who  slumber  in  the  dust? 

These  are  the  lives  and  memories 

To  which  we  tribute  pay. 

Theirs  are  the  bloodless  victories 

We  celebrate  to-day. 

Henry  M.  Witter. 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  ^t 

ORATION. 


Judge  Daniel  W.  Bond. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

We  have  assembled  to  celebrate  an  event  which  occurred  tzva 
hundred  years  ago;  in  1699,  some  of  the  people  of  this  locality,  then 
called  the  Quinebaiig  Country,  applied  to  the  colonial  government 
of  Connecticut  to  be  given  "the  privileges  which  belong  to  other 
towns."     Town  privileges  then  consisted  in  the  right  of  the  freemen 
to  vote  for  colonial  officers,  to  take  part  in  the  government  of  the 
colony  by  means  of  deputies  (now  called  representatives)  chosen  by 
the  freemen,  and  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  town  in 
town-meetings,  and  by  town  officers  chosen  at  such  meetings.     The 
affairs  of  a  new  town  then  included  the  granting  of  allotments  of 
land  to  the  inhabitants,  and  in  all  towns,  included,  besides  such 
matters  as  are  managed  by  towns  now,  the  right  and  the  duty  oi 
providing  for  religio-us  meetings.     While  it  was  important  that  the 
people  of  a  new  settlement  should  vote  for  colonial  officers  and 
elect  deputies  to  act  with  others  in  the  management  of  the  afifairs 
of  the  colony,  it  was  still  more  important  that  the  people  should 
have  the  power  to  provide  for  public  improvements  and  the  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  the  town  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  freemen 
in  town  meetings,  and  to  elect  the  necessary  officers  of  the  town. 
In  some  respects  town  government  was  more  important  then  than 
now.     The  seat  of  government  was  at  Hartford,  only  about  forty 
miles  away,  but  the  means  of  communication  were  such  that  matters 
particularly  affecting  the  town  could  not  properly  be  attended  to  at 

Hartford. 

The  local  government  was,  therefore,  what  had  to  be  depended 
upon  by  the  people  for  all  that  directly  affected  their  common  in- 
terests as  well  as  to  some  extent  their  individual  protection. 

An  application  for  town  privileges  was  signed  by  twenty-two 
persons— fifteen  on  the  east  side  of  the  Quinebaug  and  seven  on  the 
west  side.  Gov.  John  Winthrop  also,  in  a  separate  application, 
asked  that  town  privileges  be  granted.     It  was  stated  in  the  applica- 


2,2  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

tion  of  the  inhabitants  that  "some  thirty  famihes  are  here."  The 
form  of  expression  leads  me  to  conchide  that  there  were  less  than 
thirty  houses  in  the  settlement  at  that  time,  and  probably  less  than 
two  hundred  white  inhabitants,  with  four  or  live  hundred  Indians. 
Wait  Winthrop  stated,  in  1696,  that  some  of  the  families  left  on  ac- 
count of  the  troubles  over  the  land.  They  asked  for  a  township  ten 
miles  square,  and  one  was  granted  them  the  same  year  ten  miles  east 
and  west  and  eight  miles  north  and  south.  It  comprised  substan- 
tially all  the  land  now  included  in  the  present  town  of  Plainfield 
and  the  present  town  of  Canterbury.  The  white  inhabitants  were 
scattered  over  a  considerable  portion  of  this  tract. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  land,  though  fertile,  was  hilly  and 
stony,  only  a  small  portion  of  it  was  intervale  land ;  there  was  quite 
a  tract  of  plain  land  on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  the  river,  and  it 
is  conjectured  that  the  quantity  of  such  land  in  the  township  was 
what  led  Gov.  Winthrop,  in  1700,  tO'  give  it  the  name  of  Plainfield. 
It  seems  to  have  been  the  first  town  of  that  name  in  this  country, 
but  it  is  not  known  whether  Gov.  Winthrop  invented  the  name 
or  took  it  from  some  name  in  the  old  country. 

Upon  an  occasion  like  this,  the  mind  naturally  recurs  to  the 
situation  of  the  early  settlers  prior  to  and  at  the  time  of  their  in- 
corporation as  a  town,  and  considers  their  trials  and  prosperity. 
It  has  been  truly  said,  'Tt  is  a  noble  faculty  of  our  nature  which 
enables  us  to  connect  our  thoughts,  our  sympathies,  and  our  hap- 
piness  with   what    is    distant    in   time   and   place We 

live  in  the  past  by  a  knowledge  of  its  history By  as- 
cending to  an  association  with  our  ancestors,  by  contemplating 
their  example  and  studying  their  character,  by  partaking  of  their 
sentiments  and  imbibing  their  spirit,  by  accompanying  them  in 
their  toils,  by  sympathizing  in  their  sufferings  and  rejoicing  in 
their  successes  and  their  triumphs ;  we  seem  to  belong  to  their  age 
and  to  mingle  our  own  existence  with  theirs.  We  become  their 
contemporaries,  live  the  lives  they  lived,  endure  what  they  en- 
dured, and  partake  in  the  rewards  which  they  enjoyed." 

In  many  respects  there  is  a  general  similarity  in  the  early 
history  of  all  New  England  towns.     It  was  no  holiday  excursion 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  33 

ior  the  early  settlers  in  any  locality  to  leave  their  homes  and  their 
friends,  with  the  uncertainty  as  to  when  they  should  meet  again, 
and  go  out  into  an  unbroken  wilderness,  miles  from  any  other 
settlement,  with  no  roads  in  the  settlement  or  to  any  other  locality, 
and  attempt,  either  in  large  or  small  numbers,  to  establish  a  home 
and  obtain  a  livelihood.  The  first  settlers  in  this  locality  could  not 
step  into  a  telephone  office,  either  at  Boston  or  Norwich,  and  call 
up  the  Ouinebaug  Country  and  arrange  for  a  home.  In  those  days 
the  Indian  or  real  estate  agent  did  not  do  business  over  the 
telephone. 

The  material  for  the  new  houses  must  be  obtained  at  the  new 
settlement,    a    shelter    must    be    constructed    during    the    summer 
months  to  protect  them  from  the  cold  and  storms  of  winter,  and 
until  such  shelter  was  constructed,  they  must  get  along  as  best  they 
could.     The   children   might   sleep  anywhere   and   under   any   cir- 
cumstances ;  the  father  might  sleep  without  shelter  or  protection, 
with  his  hand  on  his  loaded  musket,  but,  as  the  darkness   crept 
over  the  little  camp,  there  was  no  sleep  for  the  tired  mother — every 
rustle  among  the  leaves  seemed  to  her  as  the  stealthy  tread  of  some 
Indian  savage,  and  after  watching  through  the  long  night,  she  was 
.glad  when  the  first  dawn  of  day  appeared  in  the  east ;  perhaps, 
after  such  a  breakfast  was  over  as  could  be  prepared  from  their 
scanty  supply  of  provisions,  she  might  get  a  little  rest  while  the 
children  were  at  play  and  her  husband  was  chopping  the  trees  for 
their  cabin  home.     It  was  generally  true  that  there  were  fish  in  the 
streams  and  game  in  the  woods  available  for  food,  but  the  vege- 
tables needed  must  be  grown  during  the  first  season  for  their  use 
until  the  harvest  of  the  succeeding  year.     Sickness  from  exposure 
and  hardship  must  be  endured,  with  only  such  treatment  as  some 
.good  mother  in  the  settlement  could  give — poor  at  the  best,  under 
the  circumstances,  with  no  houses  and  but  little  more  than  a  mere 
shelter,  and  without  any  of  the  comforts  of  life  as  we  understand 
that  expression  now.     It  is  not  easy  for  those  who'  have  not  lived 
a  pioneer  life  to  imagine  or  fully  describe  the  hardships  of  a  New 
England  pioneer. 

While  every  locality  had  a  similar  experience  in  many  respects, 
3 


34  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

it  was  generally  true  that  each  had  its  own  particular  difficulties  and 
obstacles  to  their  comfort  and  progress,  and  Plainfield  was  no  ex- 
ception tO'  this  rule.  In  some  localities,  there  were  serious  troubles, 
with  the  Indians,  which  sometimes  deprived  them  of  their  crops, 
and  their  dwellings,  and  in  a  number  of  instances,  of  many  of  the 
lives  of  their  inhabitants ;  some  were  killed  and  others  were  carried 
away  into  a  captivity,  which,  to  their  friends,  was  harder  to  endure 
than  the  death  of  the  captive  would  have  been.  The  early  settlers, 
of  this  locality  were  fortunate  in  not  having  to  undergo  any  serious 
trouble  with  the  Indians ;  they  made  some  preparation  for  it  and 
must  have  lived  in  constant  expectation  that  some  trouble  might 
at  any  time  come  upon  them.  Their  settlement  was  subsequent  to 
the  war  with  the  Pequots,  the  trouble  with  the  Narragansetts,  and 
what  is  known  as  King  Philip's  War.  During  what  is  known  as 
King  William's  War  with  France  (1689- 1697)  there  were  fears  of 
an  attack.  It  was  during  this  war  that  there  was  an  alarm  of  an 
attack  upon  Woodstock.  The  passage  through  this  settlement  of 
the  messenger  from  Woodstock  to  Norwich,  in  1696,  and  the  march 
of  Maj.  Fitch  with  his  soldiers  and  friendly  Indians  from  Norwich 
to  the  protection  of  the  Woodstock  people,  stopping  at  Maj.  Fitch's, 
farm  over  night,  must  have  created  an  alarm  here,  and  led  to  an 
examination  and  re-loading  of  their  fire-arms,  and  in  such  other 
preparation  of  defense  as  circumstances  permitted.  There  muse 
have  been  a  more  serious  cause  for  alarm  at  the  time  of  Oueea 
Ann's  War  (i 702-1 71 3),  during  the  early  part  of  the  year  1703.  as. 
the  reports  of  a  series  of  horrors  by  the  French  and  Indians  reached 
the  settlement :  in  January,  at  Berwick,  Maine ;  in  February,  at 
Haverhill,  N.  H. ;  and  in  March,  at  Deerfield,  Mass.  Connecticut 
was  called  upon  for  men  to  defend  the  frontier  towns  and  for  ex- 
peditions against  Canada.  The  alarm  was  not  allayed  by  the 
passage  of  an  order  by  the  general  court  in  October,  1704,  that 
no  person  shall  desert  his  place  without  application  first  made  by 
the  inhabitants  and  allowance  obtained  from  the  general  court,, 
under  a  penalty  of  ten  pounds  to  be  used  in  defending  the  town, 
and  the  forfeiture  of  his  lands.  A  special  assembly  was  called  ia 
March  of  that  year  and  the  civil  and  military  officers  of  the  re- 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  35 

spective  towns  were  directed  to  take  especial  care  of  the  friendly 
Indians,  to  prevent  them  from  being  drawn  away  by  the  enemy. 
There  were  fears  in  Plainfield  that  the  Quinebaugs  might  be  induced 
to  join  the  enemy.  Every  town  was  required  to  meet  and  determine 
on  the  manner  of  fortifying  the  town  and  defending  themselves. 
A  certain  number  of  men  in  every  town  were  required  to  be  always 
ready,  in  summer  and  winter,  with  snow-shoes  for  the  winter,  to 
start  upon  a  moment's  notice.  Towns  were  required  to  support 
guard  and  watch-houses  and  scouts  in  all  the  exposed  parts  of  the 
town.  Similar  preparations  were  required  in  Father  Rasle's  War 
(1721-1725),  during  which  an  attack  was  made  on  Northfield,  Mass., 
and  Connecticut  men  were  sent  to  Hampshire  County. 

The  greatest  trial  which  the  early  settlers  of  Plainfield  had  to 
contend  with  was  the  uncertainty  of  their  title  to  the  land.  I: 
seems  as  if  this  w^as  a  more  serious  trouble  than  any  Indian  warfare, 
for  in  case  of  trouble  with  the  Indians,  not  only  the  Connecticut 
Colony,  but  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  would  have  sent 
men  for  their  protection,  and  if  the  difficulty  could  not  be  removed 
in  any  other  way,  they  would  have  annihilated  the  Indians.  While 
lives  were  not  taken  by  the  trouble  over  the  land  titles,  it  prevented 
immigration  to  the  new  settlement,  prevented  the  establishment  of 
such  public  and  other  improvements  as  usually  follow  a  new  settle- 
ment, caused  an  anxiety  on  the  part  of  the  settlers  as  to  their  being 
able  to  hold  their  lands  and  homes,  and  in  many  cases,  caused  a 
strife  and  bitterness  among  the  settlers  which  seriously  interfered 
with  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  settlement.  The  trouble 
seems  to  have  been  due  to  the  uneertainty  about  the  Indian  title  to  the 
land  and  to  the  eonduct  of  the  general  court  zcith  reference  to  it. 

As  already  stated,  there  was  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  this  locality 
called  the  Quinebaugs.  After  the  Pequots  came  to  Eastern  Con- 
necticut, the  Quinebaugs  were  compelled  to  pay  tribute  and  homage 
to  the  Pequots.  After  the  annihilation  of  the  Pequots  all  the  Indian 
tribes  which  had  been  subject  to  them  claimed  to  be  restored  to 
their  original  condition.  John  Winthrop,  Esq.,  son  of  Governor 
John  Winthrop  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  settled  at  Pequot  (now 
New  London),  sometime  prior  to  1648.     He  was  elected  governor 


36  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

of  the  colony  in  1657.  In  June,  1659,  he  signified  to^  the  general 
court  his  desire  for  a  tract  of  land  at  the  head  of  Pocatonock  Cove 
for  the  furtherance  of  a  plantation  at  Quinebaug,  and  the  matter 
being  considered  by  the  court,  leave  was  granted  him  to^  purchase 
•1,500  acres  upon  the  fresh  river,  together  with  the  royalties  and 
proprietaries  of  the  river,  in  case  it  may  not  be  prejudicial  to  any 
plantation;  he  was  to  take  only  150  acres  of  meadow.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  lay  out  the  land.  I  have  been  unable  to 
determine  with  certainty  the  time  Gov.  Winthrop  obtained  the 
Indian  title  to  the  Quinebaug  Country.  In  a  statement  dated  April, 
1696,  to  Gov.  Treat  and  his  assistants,  by  Wait  Winthrop,  with 
reference  to  the  land  title  at  Quinebaug,  he  states  that  Allumps 
gave  them  possession  in  due  form  about  thirty  years  since.  He  also 
states  that  they  had  denied  themselves  the  settlement  of  the  best 
land,  almost  forty  years,  because  they  would  not  spoil  so-  fine  a  place 
for  a  plantation.  In  a  letter  from  Wait  Winthrop  to  Gov.  Winthrop, 
dated  September  i,  1701,  referring  to  this  same  land  he  says: 
"Possession  has  been  in  us  ever  since  the  general  deed  which  was 
but  the  giving  of  the  possession  of  what  was  conveyed  before." 
In  a  note  of  explanation  to  the  "Winthrop  Papers,"  published  by 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  it  is  stated:  "The  great 
tract  of  land  which  Gov.  Winthrop,  Jr.,  gradually  acquired  at  Quine- 
baug (1653-1659)  proved  a  troublesome  possession  tO'  his  sons." 
Dr.  Trumbull,  in  his  History  of  Connecticut,  states:  "In  June, 
1659,  Gov.  Winthrop  obtained  liberty  of  the  assembly  to  purchase  a 
large  tract  of  land  at  Quinebaug.  Soon  after  he  made  a  purchase 
of  Allumps,  alias  Hyems,  and  Massashowett,  the  native  proprietors 
of  the  lands  comprised  in  the  townships  of  Plainfield  and  Canter- 
bury, both  sides  of  the  Quinebaug."  In  Miss  Larned's  History 
of  Windham  County,  a  copy  of  the  deed  is  given,  dated  November 
2,  1653,  by  which  Allumps,  otherwise  called  Hyems,  called  in  the 
deed  "James,  Sachem  of  Quinebaug,"  conveyed  to  John  Winthrop, 
his  heirs  and  assigns,  all  the  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Quinebaug 
River  as  far  north  as  the  falls  at  Danielson,  and  as  far  south  as  the 
falls  at  Jewett  City,  as  far  as  the  said  sachem  owned  or  any  of  his 


ORATION    BV    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  37 

men.  It  also  appears  that  November  25,  1653,  Massashowett  con- 
firmed the  deed  of  his  brother. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  1659  the  Connecticut  Colony 
had  no  charter.^ ^It^is  claimed  that  King  Charles  I.  had  granted 
a  charter  in  4454-^0  the  Earl  of  Warwick  which  was  transferred 
by  him  to  Lord  Say  and  Seel,  Lord  Brook,  Lord  Rich  and  others. 
In  1639  George  Fenwick  came  over  in  the  interests  of  the 
patentees,  took  possession,  and  continued  the  settlement  at  Say- 
brook.  In  1644  Fenwick  transferred  to  the  Connecticut  Colony 
the  fort  at  Saybrook  and  its  appurtenances  and  the  land  on  the 
Connecticut  River,  with  a  pledge  to  convey  all  the  land  as  far  as 
the  Narragansett  River  if  it  came  into  his  power  to  do  so.  In 
1661  Gov.  Winthrop  was  sent  to  England,  with  a  petition  from  the 
colony  for  a  charter,  which  he  procured  from  King  Charles  II.,  in 
1662,  conveying  to  the  Connecticut  Colony  all  the  land  west  of  the 
Narragansett  River  to  the  South  Sea,  so  far  as  it  did  not  interfere 
with  prior  grants ;  it  was  in  form  a  confirmation  of  the  charter  of 
Charles  I.  Winthrop  continued  Governor  of  the  colony  until  his 
death  in  1676. 

In  1663  the  colony  prohibited  any  person  from  purchasing 
land  of  the  Indians  without  the  consent  of  the  general  court,  except 
it  was  purchased  for  the  benefit  of  the  colony  or  of  some  town. 
In  1 67 1  the  general  court  passed  an  order  that  "the  court  doth 
grant  to  the  Governor  liberty  to  erect  a  plantation  at  Ouinebaug, 
allowing  the  purchase  that  his  Honor  hath  made  of  the  natives  for 
those  lands,  provided  it  dO'  not  prejudice  any  plantations  already 
erected."  There  is  an  expression  in  the  colonial  records  in  the 
order  granting  leave  to  Gov.  Winthrop  to  purchase  land  at  Quine- 
baug  in  1659  which  leads  to  the  inference  that  there  were  some 
settlers  on  the  land  at  that  time.  It  is  recorded  as  follows :  "This 
court  doth  hereby  manifest  their  acceptance  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Ouinebaug  under  this  government  if  they  desire."  Dr.  Trumbull 
states  that  "there  was  a  small  number  of  families  on  the  lands  at 
the  time  of  the  purchase,  but  the  planters  were  few  until  1689." 
If  there  were  any  such  settlers  at  that  time,  all  trace  and  tradition 
of  them  are  lost. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  Winthrop  Indian  title  arose,  first,  from 


38  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

the  relation  of  Allumps,  Massashowett,  his  brother,  and  Aguntus, 
to  the  Ouinebaugs ;  and  second,  tO'  the  claim  of  the  Mohegans  to 
the  same  land. 

1.  Allumps,  Massashowett,  and  Aguntus  are  said  to  have  been 
Narragansett  Indians,  who,  for  some  cause,  had  been  obliged  to 
leave  their  tribe  and  they  took  up  their  abode  with  the  Quinebaugs, 
who,  at  that  time,  had  no  resident  sachem.  (It  may  be  mentioned 
in  this  connection  that  it  is  supposed  by  some  historians  that  all 
the  Indians  in  Eastern  Connecticut,  except  the  Pequots,  including 
the  Narragansetts,  were  tribes  of  one  nation).  It  is  said  that 
Aguntus  first  claimed  that  Allumps  had  no  right  to  make  the  deed 
to  Mr.  Winthrop  and  accused  him  of  selling  land  which  he  did 
not  own ;  that  he  made  Allumps,  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Winthrop, 
take  off  a  coat  which  he  had  received  as  payment  for  the  deed ;  but 
a  quantity  of  cloth,  stockings,  wampum,  tobaccO',  and  tobacco-pipes, 
made  the  situation  more  clear  to  this  honest  Indian  and  convinced 
him  that  Allumps  had  good  right  to  convey  the  land,  and  he  joined 
with  Massashowett  in  the  confirmation  of  Allumps'  deed. 

2.  The  Mohegan  Indians  lived  north  of  the  Pequots  and  are 
said  to  have  been  a  branch  of  that  nation.  Prior  to  the  Pequot 
War  and  until  his  death  in  1683,  Uncas  was  sachem  of  the  Mohe- 
gans. No  person  can  fully  comprehend  the  colonial  history  of 
Connecticut  without  understanding  the  character,  relations,  and 
negotiations  of  the  colonists  with  Uncas.  They  did  not  put  con- 
fidence in  his  friendship;  they  tried  in  various  ways  to  maintain 
friendly  relations  with  him,  and  this  explains  some  of  their  trans- 
actions with  him. 

Sheldon,  a  modern  writer  and  learned  antiquarian,  says  of 
Uncas:  "He  had  great  force  of  character.  He  was  brave,  fear- 
less, daring  to  rashness;  fond  of  war  and  turbulent  in  peace; 
haughty,  imperious  and  often  cruel  to  those  under  him ;  artful  and 
faithless  in  dealing  with  the  natives,  he  was  hated  by  them  as  a 
traitor  to  his  race.  His  ambition  and  avarice  as  well  as  his  grati- 
tude for  protection,  held  him  ever  loyal  to  the  English.  He  was 
insolent  and  aggressive  to  the  tribes  aroimd  him,  and  engaged  in 
war  regardless  of  opposing  numbers,  believing  that  the  maintain- 
ance  of  his  power  was  so  essential  to  the  colonists  that  they  would 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  39 

come  to  his  help  in  case  of  disaster.  He  judg-ed  correctly  in  this 
but  the  commissioners  were  often  placed  in  embarrassing  circum- 
stances, and  they  say  they  feared  he  might  'draw  on  mischievous 

effects  beyond  his  power  to  issue.'     And  so  it  proved 

He  obtained  a  power  which  for  more  than  forty  years  was  a  leading 
element  in  the  affairs  of  New  England.  For  half  that  time,  Uncas 
may  almost  be  considered  the  Arbiter  of  its  destiny." 

Uncas'  mother  was  the  daughter  of  the  second  sachem  of  the 
Pequots  after  that  nation  came  to  Connecticut,  and  he  married  the 
daughter  of  Sassacus,  the  Pequot  sachem  at  the  time  of  the 
annihilation  of  the  tribe  by  the  forces  under  Capt.  John  Mason  in 
1637,  at  which  time  Uncas  acted  with  the  English.  After  the 
annihilation  of  the  Pequots,  Uncas  claimed  the  Pequot  lands  by 
inheritance  and  succession.  It  was  not  claimed  by  Uncas  or  by 
anyone  for  him  that  he  acquired  the  Quinebaug  Country  by  virtue 
of  any  conquest  of  the  Quinebaugs. 

The  Pequots  claimed  all  the  land  in  what  is  now  New  London 
County   and   the   southern    two-thirds    of   Tolland   and    Windham 

Counties. 

In  1640  Uncas  made  a  deed  to  the  governor  and  magistrates 
of  the  English  upon  the  Connecticut  River  of  "all  the  lands  that 
doth  belong  or  of  right  ought  to  belong  to  me,  by  whatever  name 
soever  they  may  be  called  ....  which  they  may  hereafter 
forever  dispose  of  as  their  own,  either  by  settling  plantations  of 
the  English  there,  or  otherwise,  as  shall  seem  good  to  them,  re- 
serving only  for  my  own  use  that  ground  which  at  present  is 
planted  and  in  that  kind  improved  by  me."  The  reserved  lands 
were  in  the  neighborhood  of  Norwich  and  did  not  include  any  of 
the  lands  in  the  Quinebaug  Country. 

In  1659  John  Mason  was  authorized  by  the  Connecticut 
Colony  to  purchase  of  Uncas,  in  behalf  of  the  colony,  all  the  lands 
which  he  had  reserved  in  the  deed  of  1640;  the  purchase  was  made, 
and   in   1660  Mason   surrendered   the  lands   so  purchased   to  the 

colony. 

In  the  treaty  made  with  Uncas  in  1681.  he  coufirmed  all  his 

former  deeds  of  land. 

After  the  deed  of  1640,  and  prior  to  1679,  the  general  court 


4°  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

does  not  seem  to  have  taken  any  action  which  recognized  Uncas 
as  having  any  right  in  the  Quinebaug  Country. 

The  Massachusetts  Colony  claimed,  before  the  United  Colonies 
of  New  England,  that  it  had  a  right  in  the  lands  of  the  Pequots,  as. 
it  had  taken  part  in  the  war  against  them.  This  claim  of  Uncas 
to  the  Pequot  lands  was  considered  by  the  commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies,  and  in  1663  a  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  extent  of  Uncas'  lands,  and  the  committee  reported,  in 
substance,  that  Uncas  had  no  land  except  that  which  he  had  in- 
herited from  his  father  above  Montononesuck ;  that  the  Pequot 
lands,  according  to  the  Indian  custom  and  manners,  belonged  to 
the  English  as  conquerors  of  the  Pequots. 

In  1679  the  court  of  New  London  County  adjudged  that  Uncas 
and  his  son,  Owaneco,  should  pass  over  their  Indian  title  tO'  six 
hundred  acres  of  land  for  satisfaction  for  the  burning  of  the  coimty 
prison  by  some  of  Uncas'  men.  The  general  court  in  October  of 
the  same  year  confirmed  this  judgment  and  ordered  Maj.  James 
Fitch,  treasurer  of  the  county,  to  select  and  sell  the  land.  Maj. 
Fitch  selected  six  hundred  acres  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Quine- 
baug River  extending  from  Waunungatuck  on  the  north  to  Row- 
land's Brook  on  the  south,  all  of  which  was  included  in  the  Winthrop 
purchase.  It  was  sold  to  John,  Soloman,  and  Daniel  Tracy,  and 
Richard  Bushnell,  all  of  Norwich,  for  £40.  Uncas  complained  to 
the  general  court  the  next  year  of  this  sale  of  his  land,  and  the 
court  allowed  the  sale  to  stand,  but  ordered  that  a  quarter  of  the 
proceeds,  £10,  be  paid  toi  Uncas.  The  land  so^  taken  from  Uncas 
was  laid  out  in  1680,  John  Tracy  having  the  south  tract. 

In  1679  the  general  court  granted  Maj.  James  Fitch  full  liberty 
to  receive  for  his  own  use  from  Uncas  and  Owaneco,  two  hundred 
acres  of  land,  provided  that  he  take  it  up  where  it  may  not 
prejudice  any  fomier  grant  to  any  plantation  or  to  any  particular 
person.  Maj.  Fitch  under  this  order,  took  the  land  south  of  John 
Tracy's  land,  called  Peagscomsuck. 

In  1680  the  general  court  ordered  that  if  Uncas  hath  any  right 
to  any  land  about  Quinebaug,  he  may  make  it  out  and  dispose  of 
it  to  his  son,  Owaneco,  and  such  gentlemen  as  he  shall  see  cause. 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  41 

Under  this  order,  Owaneco  assumed  the  right  to^  the  land  in  the 
Quinebaug-  Country.  During  the  same  year,  Maj.  Fitch  obtained 
from  Owaneco  a  deed  of  a  large  tract  of  land  between  Little  River 
and  the  Quinebaug,  and  in  December  of  that  year,  Owaneco  exe- 
cuted an  instrument  by  which  he  made  over  his  title  to  any  and 
all  his  lands  unto  his  "loving  friend,  James  Fitch,  Jr.,  for  him  to- 
dispose  of  as  he  shall  see  cause." 

So  far  as  Uncas  had  any  title  to  the  land  in  the  Quinebaug 
Country  after  his  deed  to  the  colony  in  1640,  it  was  in  1680  under 
the  control  of  James  Fitch,  Jr.,  and  those  to  whom  a  portion  of  it- 
had  been  sold  by  order  of  the  court,  and  those  to  whom  Owaneco 
had  sold ;  so  far  as  Allumps,  Massashowett,  and  Aguntus  had  any 
title  to  the  land  in  this  locality,  or  any  right  to  convey  lands  oc- 
cupied by  the  Quinebaug  Indians,  it  belonged  tO'  Fitz  John,  and 
Wait  Winthrop,  as  devisees  of  their  father,  Gov.  John  Winthrop ; 
so  far  as  the  colony  had  the  title  to  the  territory,  it  had  done  nothing 
by  way  of  transferring  it  to  anyone. 

I  do  not  know  how  generally  the  law  as  to  the  Indian  title  to 
lands  they  occupied,  as  it  was  afterwards  declared,  was  understood 
by  the  Connecticut  Colonists.  The  leading  men  seem  to  have 
understood  it  and  at  times  to  have  acted  upon  it.  But  many  people 
who  had  deeds  from  the  Indians  do  not  seem  to  have  understood 
the  legal  effect  of  Indian  deeds. 

Gov.  Andross  undertook  at  one  time  to  examine  into  the  title 
of  the  settlers  to  the  land ;  some  of  them  showed  him  their  Indian 
deeds,  and  it  is  reported  that  he  threw  them  aside  contemptuously 
and  said,  "Indian  deeds  are  no  better  than  the  scratch  of  a  bear's 
paw."  Gov.  Andross'  claim  probably  was  that  as  the  charter  of 
the  colony  had  been  vacated,  the  colonists  had  no  title  to  their 
land  ;  that  the  Indians  could  not  give  any  title  to  the  land  as  against 
the  Crown. 

The  English  Government  claimed  the  authority  to  convey  the 
land  to  the  colonists  subject  to  the  right  of  occupancy  by  the 
Indians.  In  most  instances,  the  Indian  deeds  purported  to  convey 
the  land  in  fee,  with  no  reservation  to  themselves,  but  generally 
the  Indians  remained  on  the  land  after  they  had  conveyed  it ;  their 


42  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

wigwams  remained  and  they  hunted  over  the  land  and  fished  in 
the  streams  the  same  as  before ;  they  cut  their  fire-wood  on  any 
•of  the  unenclosed  land.  The  colonial  laws  obliged  the  inhabitants 
of  the  several  towns  for  nearly  a  century  to  reserve  for  the  Indians 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  land  for  planting  ground.  The  Indians 
seemed  to  have  construed  their  deeds  in  many  cases  as  merely  ad- 
mitting the  whites  tO'  occupy  the  land  with  them.  It  is  stated  by 
some  writers  that  the  practice  of  alienating  land  whereby  his  right 
of  occupancy  ceased  was  something  the  Indian  mind  could  not 
•comprehend. 

The  general  court  appointed  Gov.  Treat  and  John  Talcott,  as- 
sistant, a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  bonds  of  Uncas'  land.  The 
•committee  reported  in  May,  1684,  in  substance,  that  besides  his 
lands  in  what  is  now  New  London  County,  his  lands  in  Windham 
County  extended  as  far  north  as  the  Wabbaquasset  Country,  and 
the  east  bounds,  as  the  committee  described  them,  were  as  far  east 
as  the  Plainfield  east  line.  No  action  was  taken  by  the  general 
court  upon  the  report  of  the  committee  except  to  order  it  filed  and 
recorded. 

In  October,  1690,  Fitz  John  and  Wait  Winthrop  petitioned 
the  general  court  that  "their  right  to  a  certain  tract  bought  of 
Allumps  by  their  father  might  be  confirmed  tO'  them  for  the  benefit 
-of  those  about  to  settle  there."  No  action  seems  to^  have  been 
taken  by  the  general  court  upon  this  petition.  Whether  the  coun 
considered  the  action  taken  in  1671  as  sufficient,  or  whether  it  was 
considered  that  its  action  on  the  appeal  from  the  New  London 
County  Court  had  committed  the  colony  to  the  validity  of  Uncas' 
•claim  to  the  land,  or  whether  the  uncertainty  as  tO'  their  own  title 
on  account  of  the  position  taken  by  Gov.  Andross  that  their  charter 
was  vacated,  was  their  reason  for  taking  no^  action,  is  all  a  matter 
of  conjecture.  The  failure  of  the  general  court  tO'  take  action  then, 
•and  their  taking  no  decisive  action  until  1706,  caused  the  settlers 
a  vast  amount  of  trouble. 

Notwithstanding  the  situation,  which  was  probably  not  fully 
imderstood  by  the  settlers,  people  purchased  land,  some  from  the 
Winthrops,  some  from  Maj.  Fitch,  and  the  settlement  was   com- 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  43 

Tiienced  about  1790.  Some  of  the  settlers  took  deeds  from  Owaneco, 
who  seems  to  have  been  wilhng  to  give  deeds  of  any  land  desired 
whether  he  had  conveyed  the  same  land  tO'  others  or  not.  Samuel 
Adams,  one  of  the  west  side  settlers,  claimed  that  he  bought  first 
of  Maj.  Fitch,  then  of  Capt.  Mason  and  Owaneco,  and  third  of  Capt. 
John  Mason  so  as  to  avoid  all  trouble,  and  lastly  of  Capt.  Bushnell, 
and  after  all  his  purchases,  he  was  harassed  with  suits  by  the  Tracys. 
In  1697  Maj.  James  Fitch  moved  with  his  family  to  his  farm  at 
Peagscomsuck  which  he  called  "Kent."  In  1698  Fitz  John  Win- 
throp  was  chosen  governor  ol  the  Connecticut  Colony,  and  during 
the  same  year,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  general  court  with 
power  to  find  out  and  renew  the  bonds  of  his  father's  purchase  of 
Allumps,  but  the  committee  dO'  not  seem  to  have  taken  any  action. 

With  the  preliminary  statement  as  to  land  titles,  we  can  under- 
stand the  significance  of  the  following  portion  of  the  petition  for 
town  privileges  :  "We  also  pray  that  the  court  would  appoint  a 
committee  of  indifferent  and  uninterested  persons  to  lay  out  allot- 
ments and  to  equalize  such  as  have  been  in  part  laid  out.  For 
without  any  reflection  on  the  part  of  the  persons  that  have  been 
already  concerned,  we  humbly  conceive  that  it  cannot  be  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  a  peaceable,  honorable,  speedy,  righteous  laying 
out  of  lots  and  divisions  ol  lands  and  meadows  can  be  by  six 
brothers,  who  also  pretend  to  and  would  hold,  near  a  sixth  part  of 
the  plantation  to  themeselves ;  whereas  it  is  well  known  that  this 
place  lyeth  under  many  pretended  claims  besides  our  honorable  Gov- 
ernor's claim,  and  by  their  own  surveying,  running  near  two  miles 
"for  less  than  a  hundred  acres  to  lay  out  spots  of  meadow — such 
actions,  so  contrary  to  law,  if  not  regulated,  the  place  is  spoiled  and 
therefore  we  humbly  pray  the  assembly  to  appoint  Capt.  Wetherell, 
Mr.  Pitkin,  and  Mr.  Ely  tO'  inquire  into  the  legal  proceedings,  and 
inform  the  weak  and  feeble  that  they  may  have  a  more  speedy  and 
peaceable  settlement,  so  that  we  may  have  the  worship  of  God 
among  us — the  which  above  all  is  to  be  desired  and  sought  for, 
and  have  our  rights  defended  to  ourselves  and  heirs." 

There  were  probably  forty-six  men  to  sign  the  petition.  The 
six  brothers  referred  to  in  the  petition  were  the  Gallup  brothers,  sons 


44  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

of  John  Gallup,  an  officer  in  the  Pequot  War,  who  married  a  niece 
of  Gov.  Winthrop's  wife,  and  whose  son  John  acted  as  the  agent 
of  the  Governor  with  reference  to-  the  Quinebaug  Lands.  The 
Gallups  of  course  would  not  sign  the  petition  with  such  a  state- 
ment in  it  as  to  their  conduct,  and  Maj.  Fitch  and  those  acting 
under  his  direction  would  not  sign  a  petition  which  recognized  in. 
any  way  the  validity  of  the  Governor's  claim  tO'  the  land. 

Here  was  an  opportunity  for  the  general  court  to  say  or  do' 
something  which  would  at  least  help  to  determine  the  question  as 
to  the  title  of  the  land.  But  the  general  court  inserted  in  the  grant 
of  town  privileges  a  clause  "provided  it  doth,  not  prejudice  any 
particular  person's  property."  Capt.  Wetherell,  Mr.  Pitkin,  and 
Mr.  Ely  were  appointed  a  committee  to  lay  out  the  bounds  of  the 
town,  but  there  was  no  authority  given  them,  as  prayed  for,  "to 
inquire  info  the  legal  proceedings  and  inform  the  iveak  and  feeble  that 
they  may  have  a  more  speedy  and  peaeeablc  settlement." 

Disappointed  as  the  settlers  must  have  been  over  the  failure  of 
the  general  court  to  do  anything  to  assist  them  in  the  settlement  of 
their  land  titles,  they  met.  May  31st.  1699,  and  chose  town  officers. 
At  the  same  meeting,  it  was  voted  to  give  Rev.  Joseph  Coit  a  call 
for  the  quarter,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  go  and  treat 
with  him.  Mr.  Coit  came  and  remained  under  different  agreements 
until  1748 — two  years  before  his  death. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  title  to  the  land  evidently  led  to  a  feeling 
by  the  inhabitants  that  they  might  not  be  able  to  collect  assessments 
made  in  the  usual  way  by  a  majority  vote  in  town  meeting.  In 
November,  1699,  thirty-seven  men  (nine  less  than  the  whole 
number),  twelve  on  the  west  side  and  twenty-five  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river,  signed  an  agreement  whereby  they  obliged  themselves, 
and  their  representatives,  to  maintain  an  able,  faithful,  Orthodox, 
Gospel  minister,  and  that  the  method  of  raising  the  money  for  this 
and  all  other  town  expenses  should  be  according  to  one's  just  pro- 
portion, in  such  way  as  the  majority  of  the  subscribers  agree  upon, 
or  according  tO'  the  law  of  the  colony,  provided  that  a  suitable  and 
honorable  provision  be  made  for  the  minister ;  they  also>  agreed  that 
a  suitable  allotment  be  layed  out  for  the  minister,  to  remain  for  the 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  45 

minister  forever ;  and  they  also  agreed  that  the  townsmen  (selectmen, 
we  call  them  now,)  shall  take  especial  care  in  the  matter  of  the 
■education  of  the  children. 

In  1 701  the  general  court  added  two  men  to  the  committee  to 
iind  out  and  renew  the  bounds  of  the  Winthrop  purchase,  but  it 
was  expressly  provided  that  what  the  committee  shall  do  in  the 
premises  shall  not  confirm  or  invalidate  the  title  of  any   Indian 
sachem.      The  committee,  now  composed  of  six  persons,  met  at 
Plainfield,  May  21,  1701.     Miss  Larned,  the  faithful  and  painstaking 
Iiistorian  of  Windham  County,  has  given  an  account  of  the  meeting : 
■*'It  was  an  investigation  ol  great  interest  and  importance,  involving 
the  title  to  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  the  present  and  future  peace 
•and  well-being  of  many   individuals  and  families.      A  large  con- 
-course  of  people  had  gathered  at  the  New  Plantation — Maj.  Gen. 
Wait  Winthrop  from  New  London,  with  counsellors  and  followers ; 
Judge  Tracy,  Lieut.  Leffingwell,  Richard  Bushnell,  and  other  Nor- 
wich proprietors,  together  with  Maj.  Fitch  and  all  the  Quinebaug 
inhabitants  from  both  sides  of  the  river,  were  present  at  this  memor- 
able meeting.      Owaneco  was  there  in   royal   state   with   a   great 
•company  of  his  Mohegans.     There  were  the  Quinebaugs,  the  origi- 
nal  proprietors   of  this   disputed   territory,    still    numbering   some 
hundreds,  and  representatives  of  the  Nipmucks,  Pequots,  Shetuck- 
•ets,  and  Narragansetts.     .     .     .     The  testimony  of  various  Indians 
as  to  the  reputed  boundaries  of  the  Quinebaug  lands  was  first  taken 
— Joseph  Morgan  and  John   Gallup  serving  as  interpreters.     The 
presence  of  Owaneco,  drunken  and  degraded  as  he  was,  so  terrified 
the  craven  Quinebaugs  that  they  were  obliged  to  be  examined  apart. 
Having  taken  the  testimony,  the  committee  set  out  with  guides, 
divers  Plainfield  inhabitants,  and  a  long  train  of  Indians,  to  search 
for  the  bounds  thus  described  to  them." 

It  is  sufficient  here  to  state  that  the  committee  reported  the 
northern  boundary  as  far  north  as  the  falls  at  Danielson,  giving  the 
northeast  and  northwest  bonnds,  and  the  southern  boundary  as  far 
:south  as  the  falls  at  Jewett  City,  the  old  Nipmuck  Path  as  the  western 
boundary,  and  the  present  Plainfield  east  line  as  the  eastern  bound- 


^6  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

ary,  and  made  out  a  plot  of  the  land,  which  accompanied  their 
report. 

The  committee  also  reported  that  "said  Indians  did  testify  that 
Hyems  was  sachem  of  all  those  lands  comprised  within  the 
boundaries." 

The  general  court  received  the  report  of  the  committee,  ordered 
it  filed  and  recorded,  but  no  further  action  was  taken  upon  it,  and 
nothing  was  done  to  determine  the  rights  of  the  different  claimants. 
Here  again,  the  general  court  allowed  another  opportunity  to  pass 
when  this  controversy  might  have  been  settled.  It  is  true  that  at 
this  time  suits  were  pending  in  the  courts  involving  the  question 
of  the  title  of  the  land,  in  which  appeals  had  been  taken  to  the 
general  court ;  but  the  people  were  left  with  no  certainty  that  they 
could  hold  even  the  homesteads  they  occupied.  "They  had  neither 
roads,  bridges,  mills,  schools,  meeting-house,  or  record  book,  and 
even  the  agreement  for  religious  services  had  not  been  carried  out 
faithfully." 

Soon  after  this  report  of  the  committee,  the  people  of  Plainfield 
attempted  to  do  something  to  settle  the  controversy ;  they  appointed 
a  committee  of  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  respected  inhabitants 
of  the  town  (James  Deane,  William  Marsh,  Joseph  Spaulding, 
Nathaniel  Jewell,  Thomas  Williams,  William  and  Obediah  Johnson, 
Samuel  Adams,  and  Samuel  and  Joseph  Cleveland),  "to  consider  all 
that  may  tend  to  the  zvelfare  of  the  tozun."  The  committee  reported 
in  June,  1701,  making  recommendations  as  to  holding  religious 
meetings,  levying  taxes,  and  the  number  and  size  of  allotments  of 
land,  and,  if  there  were  several  "claimers"  for  the  same  land,  they 
were  to  appear  on  notice  before  another  committee  appointed  by 
the  town,  and  "clear  up  their  rights."  The  plan  proposed  by  the 
town  committee  did  not  have  the  force  of  law;  nO'  one  was  obliged 
to  act  under  it,  and  no  one  was  bound  by  the  action  of  the  town 
except  as  he  consented  to  it.     Still  some  progress  was  made  under  it. 

In  May,  1702,  a  few  of  the  leading  citizens  applied  to  the 
general  court  for  the  appointment  of  three  disinterested  persons, 
"to  view  and  give  advice  as  to  where  to  set  their  meeting-house  as 
may  be  most  suitable  for  the  whole  town,  and  in  hopes   such  a 


ORATION  BY  JUDGE  DANIEL  W.  BOND.  47, 

means  may  prevent  future  trouble."  A  committee  was  appointed 
and  they  selected  a  site  on  Black  Hill  near  a  common  crossing  place 
of  the  Qninebaug.  A  frame  for  the  meeting-house  was  set  up 
during  the  summer  of  1702,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  it  was  so  the 
town  could  meet  in  it. 

During  the  same  year,  the  inhabitants  made  another  attempt 
tO'  bring  about  a  settlement  of  their  difficulties ;  they  invited,  to 
advise  with  them,  Rev.  James  Noyes,  the  minister  at  Stonington, 
who  was  a  distinguished  preacher  and  a  man  of  great  wisdom  and 
usefulness;  Rev.  Gordon  Salstonstall,  the  minister  at  New  London,, 
where  he  was  highly  esteemed  and  who  was  afterwards  (1707) 
elected  governor  of  the  colony ;  and  Rev.  Salmon  Treat,  who'  was. 
the  minister  at  Preston  for  over  forty  years  and  a  descendent  of 
Robert  Treat,  the  governor  of  the  colony  in  1683.  These  gentle- 
men came  to^  Plainfield  and  after  considering  the  disturbed  condi- 
tion of  affairs,  the  various  quarrels  that  were  pending,  and  the 
formidable  Quinebaug  in  winter  and  high  water,  advised  the  people 
to  organize  two  distinct  societies  or  townships.  This  suggestion 
was  acted  upon  at  once,  and  the  reverend  gentlemen  drew  up  an 
agreement  as  to  the  dividing  line  between  the  towns,  which  was  to 
be  the  Quinebaug  from  the  north  as  far  as  Peagscomsuck  Island ; 
from  the  center  of  that  island  the  line  was  to  run  one-quarter  of  a 
mile  due  east,  and  from  thence  to  the  south  bounds  of  the  town,  one 
mile  east  of  the  Quinebaug.  The  agreement  was  signed  by  twenty- 
four  east  side  settlers  and  ten  on  the  west  side.  In  May,  1703,  a 
petition  was  presented  to  the  general  court  signed  by  some  of  the 
inhabitants  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  setting  forth  that  "the  in- 
habitants of  the  west  side  of  Plainfield,  having  been  in  a  long  laby- 
rinth of  difficulties  by  reason  of  a  tedious  river  that  is  between  us 
and  them,  and  we  have  modeled  and  begun  to  get  timber  for  a 
meeting-house  and  purchased  and  set  out  a  lot  for  our  minister, 
and  ask  tO'  be  confirmed  as  a  town."  The  petition  was  granted  in 
May,  1703,  and  it  was  ordered  that  the  name  of  the  new  town 
should  be  Canterbury,  with  the  river  as  the  dividing  line  between 
them. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  general  court  it  was  enacted  that 


•48  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

all  the  townships  in  the  colony  to  which  the  assembly  had  given 
patents  should  remain  a  full  and  clear  estate,  with  all  the  privileges 
and  immunities  granted  therein,  in  fee  simple  to  the  proprietors, 
their  heirs,  and  assigns  forever. 

Under  this  act  and  the  order  as  tO'  the  boundary  line  between 
the  two  towns,  it  w^as  feared  by  the  west  side  inhabitants  that  they 
would  lose  their  lands  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  comprising  about 
•one  thousand  acres  of  plain  land  valuable  for  tillage.  The  Canter- 
bury inhabitants  procured  an  order  from  the  general  court  in  Octo- 
ber of  the  same  year  by  which  the  line  between  the  towns  was 
-established  as  agreed  upon  in  the  instrument  prepared  by  Messrs. 
Noyes,  Salstonstall,  and  Treat,  in  1702. 

Plainfield  went  on  again  under  the  new  arrangement  and  gave 
Rev.  Mr.  Coit  a  call  to  settle  with  them  and  be  their  constant  minis- 
ter. They  offered  him  a  lot  and  £80  to  carry  on  his  building, 
with  forty  pounds  salary,  which  call  he  accepted  and  desired  that 
some  of  the  salary  be  in  money,  which  desire  at  the  present  day 
would  not  be  considered  unreasonable.  A  committee  was  appointed 
\>y  the  town  to  see  the  town  acts  that  are  in  the  clerk's  custody  and 
have  such  as  they  think  fit  entered  in  a  suitable  book  and  the  rest 
presented  to  the  town  as  there  might  be  occasion. 

In  1704  Plainfield  arranged  as  to  a  general  distribution  of  its 
lands  among  its  inhabitants ;  each  person  wdio  received  an  allotment 
gave  up  his  land  and  took  his  share  in  the  distribution.  Twenty- 
four  came  intO'  the  distribution  and  others  followed  soon  after.  It 
commenced  to  build  roads  and  bridges,  mills  were  erected,  and  in 
many  ways  the  settlement  was  improved. 

In  1704,  for  some  purpose  not  material  here  to  state,  the  Mohe- 
gan  Indians  were  induced  to  complain  tO'  the  Queen  of  their  treat- 
ment by  the  English,  by  whom  they  claimed  they  had  been  unjustly 
deprived  of  their  land.  By  the  aid  of  Nicholas  Hallam,  they  pre- 
sented a  petition  asking  to  have  their  land  restored  to  them.  A 
commission  of  twelve  persons  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
matter,  and  if  their  complaint  was  well  founded,  to  restore  their 
land  to  them.     Gov.  Dudley  of  Massachusetts  was  President  of  the 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  49 

commission,  and  there  were  several  other  interested  parties  members 
of  the  commission. 

It  is  not  necessary  at  this  time  to  follow  the  proceedings  of 
the  various  commissions  upon  this  petition ;  it  was  a  disturbing 
element  as  tO'  the  land  titles  in  Eastern  Connecticut,  until  the  case 
was  finally  determined  in  1771  in  favor  of  the  Connecticut  Colony. 
It  is  sufficient  now  to  state  that  a  hearing  was  had  by  the  first 
commission,  at  Stonington,  in  August,  1705,  at  which  the  colonists 
refused  to  appear,  and  the  committee  appointed  by  the  general 
court  to  attend  the  hearing  filed  a  protest  against  the  course  of  the 
hearing  adopted  by  the  commission,  alleging  that  the  colony  held 
its  lands  by  virtue  of  a  charter  from  the  Crown,  and  that  the  pro- 
ceedings were  contrary  to  the  charter  and  the  rights  of  her  Majesty's 
subjects.  The  general  court  had  forbidden  any  of  the  colonists  to 
appear  before  the  commission.  The  hearing  proceeded  with  such 
evidence  as  was  brought  forward  in  support  of  the  petition  and  the 
commission  reported  in  February,  1706,  in  favor  of  the  Indians  and 
ordered  the  lands  restored  to  them  and  forbade  all  other  persons 
occupying  the  lands.  The  decision  related  to  about  60,000  acres  of 
land  in  what  is  now  New  London  County,  and  immediately  petitions 
were  presented  for  the  restoration  to  the  Indians  of  the  land  in  the 
southern  two-thirds  of  Tolland  and  Windham  Counties. 

It  was  at  the  next  session  of  the  general  court  in  April  that 
the  government  began  to  show  an  interest  in  the  troubles  of  the 
inhabitants  over  the  land  titles  in  the  Quinebaug  Country.  An 
order  was  passed  in  which  it  was  recited  that  "whereas  there  hath 
arisen  an  unhappy  difference  respecting  the  lands  at  Quinebaug 
between  the  Honorable  Governor  and  Maj.  James  Fitch  and  sundry 
other  persons  interested  in  those  lands,  which  difference  this  court 
is  desirous  to  appease  and  bring  to  a  good  issue,"  and  for  this 
purpose  a  committee  was  appointed  to  repair  to  the  locality  and 
there  inform  themselves  as  to  the  true  state  of  the  matter,  and  en- 
deavor to  amicably  compromise  the  difference,  and  if  this  cannot 
be  done,  then  to  report  to  the  court  in  October  next  how  they  find 
the  true  state  of  those  matters  of  difference  relating  to  the  titles 
and  interests  of  the  parties  concerned  in  those  lands,  that  the  court 
4 


50  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

may  see  their  way  clear  in  October  tO'  bring  this  unhappy  difference 
to  a  final  issue.  It  was  also  ordered  that  no  suits  should  be  com- 
menced as  to  such  lands,  and  all  pending  suits  stayed,  until  October 
next.  This  proceeding  was  consented  to  by  Gov.  Winthrop  and 
Maj.  Fitch. 

The  committee  came  to  Plainfield,  took  the  testimony  of  the 
Quinebaugs,  Mohegans,  Narragansetts,  Pequots  and  Nipmucks^ 
and  after  duly  considering  the  same,  adjudged  that  Allumps'  deed 
tO'  Winthrop  was  invalid — first,  because  it  was  without  valuable  con- 
sideration,  and  second,  because  the  description  of  the  land  conveyed 
was  too  indefinite  and  uncertain ;  the  co^mmittee  claim  to  have  given 
due  weight  to  the  fact  that  the  general  court  had  allowed  the  Gover- 
nor's purchase  in  1671,  but  they  also  found  that  Uncas'  east  bounds 
as  settled  by  the  committee  in  1684,  took  in  this  same  land,  and 
that  the  court  had  granted  leave  to  Uncas  tO'  dispose  of  this  land 
toi  Owaneco  and  had  confirmed  his  sales  of  land  to  Maj.  Fitch  and 
others. 

A  coimpromise  was  effected  with  the  governor  and  his  brother 
before  the  report  of  the  committee  was  made,  whereby  they  were 
to  release  all  their  claim  tO'  the  land,  with  certain  exceptions,  in 
consideration  of  each  receiving  a  farm  of  one  thousand  acres — one 
north  of  Plainfield  and  the  other  north  of  Canterbury.  Gov.  Win- 
throp died  in  1707,  before  this  compromise  was  fully  perfected,  and 
the  agreement  was  completed  with  Wait  Winthrop. 

The  deed  given  to  the  Plainfield  proprietors  evidently  intended 
to  limit  the  grant  of  land  to  that  within  the  town  of  Plainfield,  and 
by  some  misunderstanding,  it  was  assumed  that  the  Quinebaug 
River  was  the  dividing  line  between  the  towns.  Attention  was 
called  to  this  error  by  Maj.  Fitch  and  others,  and  in  May,  1707,  the 
general  court  made  an  order  noting  the  fact  that  there  was  an 
error  in  the  grant  to  Plainfield  whereby  some  of  the  lands  granted 
to  the  town  of  Canterbury  were  included  in  the  patent  to  the  pro- 
prietors of  Plainfield,  and  that  having  been  informed  of  said  error,, 
and  tO'  prevent  any  trouble  or  damage  that  may  happen  tO'  the  town 
of  Canterbury  or  to  any  person,  declared  the  patent  to  Plainfield 


ORATION  BY  JUDGE  DANIEL  W.  BOND.  5 1 

void,  and  ordered  a  new  patent  to  be  granted,  if  desired,  according 
to  the  usual  form. 

There  was  some  difference  between  the  east  and  west  side  pro- 
prietors after  this,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  the  general  court  took 
any  further  action  in  the  matter,  and  in  a  few  years  all  controversy 
ceased. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  period  during  which  the  inhabitants 
were  having  trouble  over  their  land  titles,  their  petitions  to   the 
general   court   seem   somewhat   extravagant   in   their  form   of   ex- 
pression as  we  read  them  now.     One  of  the  petitions  by  the  Can- 
terbury people  begins  as  follows :     "Unto  whom  shall  the  oppressed 
apply  themselves?     In  the  first  place  they  sigh,  they  groan,  they 
send  up  their  cries  unto  the  Lord  God,  who  in  His  Holy  word 
directs  in  such  cases  to  apply  ourselves  unto  the  earthly  judges,  our 
.  rulers  and  fathers.     Thence  it  is,  we.  with  deepest  humility  as  on 
our  bended  knees,  lay  before  you  our  miserable,  deplorable,  undone, 
condition ;  unless  God,  our  King,  or  your  compassionate  selves  will 
relieve  us.     The  case  is  this :"     Then  follows  a  statement  of  what 
Plainfield  people  had  done.     In  one  of  the  Plainfield  petitions  it 
is  stated :     "We  are  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  expose  the  nakedness  of 
our   neighbors   of   Canterbury,   which    otherwise    we    should    have 
covered  with  a  mantle  of  love,  as  far  as  we  could  with  a  good  con- 
science, but  they,  without  giving  any  notice  for  the  establishyig  of 
a  line  according  to  the  first  agreement,  and  the  general  court  not 
so  well  considering  what  they  had  done  before,  granted  a  line  ac- 
cording   to    the    first    agreement.     And    whence    oiir    Canterbury 
neighbors,  not  sufficiently  checked  for  their  first  fault,  as  contrary 
to  law,  but  too  much  countenanced,  took  encouragement,  as  it  is 
the  nature  of  sin  to  grow  from  bad  to  worse,  and  blinded  the  eyes 
of  the  Honorable  Assembly  with  a  most  abominable  falsehood — all 
which  is  greatly  to  our  hurt,  especially  in  the  use  Canterbury  is 
making  of  the  same,  as   may  be   evident:"     Then   follows   a  full 
statement  of  what  Canterbury  people  have  done  to  the  injury  of 
Plainfield  people. 

These  extravagant  expressions  would  be  laughable  if  we  did 
not  know  they  proceeded  from  a  people  who  had  been  contending 


52  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

for  years  over  their  land  titles,  and  had  found  it  difficult  to  get  the 
general  court  to  assist  them.  They  may  have  intended  the  general 
court  to  understand  that  it  was  "no  boy's  play." 

I  do  not  know  that  the  Mohegan  land  claim  and  the  report  of 
the  first  commission  to  hear  and  determine  their  claim,  in  any  way 
influenced  the  general  court  to  take  the  steps  necessary  to  settle 
the  controversy  in  the  Quinebaug  Country.  But  the  fact  that  for 
sixteen  years  efforts  had  been  made  by  the  parties  interested  to 
induce  the  court  to  take  some  action  in  the  matter,  during  which 
time  nothing  was  done,  and  the  further  fact  that  action  was  taken 
at  the  same  time  by  the  general  court  to  arrange  with  the  Mohegans, 
leads  me  to  conclude  that  "the  Mohegan  land  controversy"  was 
what  led  to  the  settlement  of  the  land  titles  in  Plainfield. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  general  court  did  not  proceed  by 
determining  where  the  title  was  by  virtue  of  the  Indian  deeds ;  it 
gave  a  good  title  to  the  Plainfield  proprietors  by  deeding  the  land 
to  them  by  name,  and  prevented  all  further  claims  to  the  land  by 
the  Winthops  by  obtaining  a  release  of  all  their  interests  in  the 
same. 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  colony,  on  account  of  the  expense  to 
be  incurred  by  a  new  town  in  building  a  meeting-house  and  the 
payment  of  a  minister,  to  exempt  the  inhabitants  from  colonial  taxes 
for  a  time.  In  the  act  of  incorporation,  Plainfield  was  exempted 
from 'the  payment  of  colonial  taxes  for  three  years.  Until  the  town 
paid  taxes,  it  was  not  entitled  to  send  a  deputy  to  the  general  court. 
I  infer  that  Plainfield  was  not  taxed  until  the  settlement  of  the 
controversy  as  to  its  land  title,  for  the  first  deputy,  John  Fellows, 
was  sent  in  1708. 

The  situation  of  Plainfield  was  such  with  reference  to  other 
settlements  that  as  soon  as  the  cloud  upon  its  title  to  its  real  estate 
was  removed,  there  was  a  demand  upon  the  town  for  new  and  better 
roads  to  accommodate  the  travel  through  the  town.  The  meeting- 
house on  Black  Hill  was  not  as  conveniently  located  for  the  Plain- 
field  inhabitants  as  one  further  east,  and  another  site  had  to  be 
selected  and  a  new  meeting-house  built.  Schools  had  not  been 
as  well  provided  as  the  people  desired,  and  provision  was  made  for 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL    W.    BOND.  53 

the  education  of  the  young  people  of  the  town,  first,  by  employing 
a  person  to  teach  in  dififerent  parts  of  the  town,  and  soon  after  by 
dividing  the  town  into  school  districts  and  building  school-houses. 
New  settlers  came  intO'  the  town,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  in- 
habitants rapidly  improved.  The  wars  between  England  and  France 
already  referred  to,  and  the  last  war  between  those  two  countries 
(1744- 1 763)  whereby  France  ceded  her  North  American  possessions 
to  Great  Britain,  were  a  heavy  burden  on  the  Connecticut  Colony. 
In  this  last  war  the  Connecticut  Colony  raised  5,000  men.  It  was 
this  almost  continuous  warfare,  maintained  by  the  colonists,  in  be- 
half of  the  mother  country  which  disciplined  them  for  the  struggle 
for  the  independence  of  the  colonies  which  was  fast  approaching. 
The  organization  of  the  militia  during  the  colonial  period  (the  first 
company  in  Plainfield  was  organized  in  1704),  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  on  the  wars  between  England  and  France,  composed  of 
men  educated  in  the  church,  the  school,  and  the  town  meeting,  is  an 
element  of  colonial  life  which  must  be  considered  in  studying  the 
progress  of  New  England  people. 

We  are  celebrating  the  granting  of  tOAvn  privileges  to  Plainfield 
in  1699.  We  shall  fail  in  our  observance  of  the  day  if  we  do'  not 
consider  the  significance  of  town  governments  as  established 
throughout  New  England. 

A  distinguished  French  writer  (De  Tocqueville),  in  his  study  of 
"Democracy  in  America,"  says :  "In  New  England,  political  life 
had  its  origin  in  the  township,  and  it  can  almost  be  said  that  each 

of    them    originally    formed    an    independent    nation 

Municipal  institutions  constitute  the  strength  of  free  nations.  Town 
meetings  are  to^  liberty  what  primary  schools  are  to  science ;  they 
bring  it  within  the  people's  reach ;  they  teach  men  how  to  use  and 
how  to  enjoy  it.  A  nation  may  establish  a  free  government,  but 
without  municipal  institutions,  it  cannot  have  the  spirit  of  liberty. 
.  The  native  of  New  England  is  attached  to  his  township 
because  he  is  independent  and  free ;  his  co-operation  in  its  affairs 
insures  his  attachment  tO'  its  interests ;  the  well-being  it  afifords  him 
secures  his  afifections ;  and  its  welfare  is  the  aim  of  his  ambition 
and  of  his  future  exertions.     He  takes  part  in  every  occurrence  in 


54  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

the  place ;  he  practices  the  art  of  government  in  the  small  sphere 
within  his  reach  ;  he  accustoms  himself  to  those  forms  without  which 
liberty  can  only  advance  by  revolutions ;  he  imbibes  their  spirit,  he 
acquires  a  taste  for  order,  he  comprehends  the  balance  ol  power, 
and  collects  clear,  practical  notions  on  the  nature  of  his  duties  and 
the  extent  of  his  rights." 

The  people  at  this  time  might  well  celebrate  the  day  if  for  no 
other  reason  than  because  it  was  the  day  when  the  school  of  liberty 
was  established  here — the  school  where  the  rights  of  free-men  were 
to  be  taught  and  exercised ;  while  the  acts  of  the  mother  country 
tended  to  create  a  spirit  of  independence  in  the  colonists,  the  town- 
ship was  the  school  which  taught  the  colonists  to  demand  their 
independence  and  to  secure  and  maintain  a  government  by  the 
people. 

The  early  settlers  of  the  New  England  towns  not  only  removed 
from  the  soil  some  obstructions  to^  its  cultivation,  but  they  removed 
from  society  some  of  the  hindrances  to  human  progress.  It  was 
demonstrated  in  the  townships  that  it  was  not  necessary  to-  have 
any  order  of  nobility  established  by  law  from  which  to  select  certain 
oiBcers  of  the  government ;  it  was  demonstrated  that  the  only  order 
of  nobility  necessary  was  that  founded  on  nobility  of  character  and 
conduct.  By  the  maintainance  of  public  schools  and  the  means  of 
education  within  the  reach  of  all,  it  was  made  possible  for  a  young 
man  by  industry  and  perseverance  to  acquire  a  knowledge  and 
discipline  sufificient  to  enable  him  to  fill  any  position — made  it 
possible  for  a  young  man  from  the  humblest  walks  of  life  to  become 
the  wisest  and  best  chief  magistrate  of  our  nation. 

The  more  I  learn  of  the  early  history  of  New  England  towns, 
the  more  I  learn  of  the  people  who  took  part  in  the  early  settlement 
of  New  England,  and  of  their  trials  and  self-denial,  the  better  I 
understand  how  much  of  what  the  people  of  this  generation  are  and 
enjoy  is  due  to  the  character  and  exertions  of  the  early  settlers.  I 
know  it  can  be  said  of  them,  as  we  look  back  now,  after  a  period  of 
two  hundred  years,  that  some  of  their  beliefs  were  erroneous  and 
that  some  of  their  conduct,  based  on  such  beliefs,  was  wrong.  I  hope 
that  two  hundred  years  hence  the  people  of  that  time  will  be  able 


ORATION    BY    JUDGE    DANIEL   W.    BOND,  55 

to  see  wherein  some  of  our  beliefs  are  erroneous  and  that  some  of 
our  conduct,  based  on  such  beHefs,  is  wrong;  not  because  I  want 
the  people  of  our  day  to  be  in  the  wrong,  but  because  I  believe 
in  human  progress,  because  I  do  not  believe  that  mankind  has 
reached  perfection,  and  because  I  hope  that  the  people  two>  hundred 
years  hence  will  be  wiser  than  we  are  to-day.  If  it  can  be  said  of 
this  generation,  as  we  can  say  of  the  generation  of  two  hundred 
years  ago,  making  all  due  allowance  for  their  education  and  sur- 
roundings, they  endeavored  to^  do  right  as  they  understood  what 
was  right,  it  is  as  favorable  a  judgment  as  we  can  hope  to  have 
•any  future  generation  pass  upon  our  beliefs  and  our  conduct. 

Cherish  and  keep  green  the  memory  of  each  and  all  of  the 
-early  settlers ;  not  merely  the  memory  of  those  whose  names  appear 
in  history,  or  who  occupied  public  positions ;  all  could  not  be 
g'overnors,  assistants,  or  deputies,  or  the  descendents  of  such  men ; 
all  could  not  be  generals,  colonels,  or  captains ;  in  every  well 
organized  army,  there  must  be  men  in  the  ranks,  and  the  faithful 
conduct  of  the  men  in  the  ranks  is  entitled  to  recognition ;  every 
humble  man  or  woman  of  toil  is  entitled  to  be  remembered — to  that 
much  at  least  from  us.     We  should  remember  that 

"The  men  who  did  their  work  faithfully  on  the  hillside  or  the  plain, 

"Will  not  go  unrewarded,  or  their  labors  be  in  vain. 

"While  the  wisest  and  the  greatest  get  the  glorious  honors  due, 

The  men  who  stood  the  brunt  of  toil  will  be  remembered  too; 

The  men  who  did  the  pioneer  work  will  surely  be  repaid 

Por  the  acres  which  they  cleared  and  the  miles  of  wall  they  laid; 

For  all  the  good  they  accomplished  in  the  church,  the  school,  and  the  state; 

For  the  love  of  learning  they  fostered,  in  the  poor  as  well  as  the  great. 

If  the  hairs  of  our  head  are  numbered,  and  He  notes  the  sparrow's  fall, 

Then  He  knows  about  the  efforts  of  the  pioneers,  each  and  all." 


5^  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

ADDRESS. 


His  Excellency,  George  E.  Lounsbury,  Governor. 

You  celebrate  to-day  the  founding  of  a  town,  and  you  have 
asked  me  to  be  here  simply  because  for  the  time  being  I  happen 
to  be  the  representative  of  the  state.  It  would  be  fitting,  then,  that 
I  should  treat  somewhat  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  towns  and  of 
their  relations  to  the  government  and  the  destiny  of  the  state. 

The  prerogative  of  representatiou  has  come  down  to  you 
through  the  law  of  inheritance,  and  even  its  enemies  do  not  blame 
you  for  its  possession.  Your  forefathers  came  to  these  shores  and 
settled  on  some  New  England  plain  or  hill,  not  merely  that  they 
might  find  freedom  to  worship  God,  but  rather  because  they  were 
impelled  by  a  heavenborn  purpose  to  better  their  material,  their 
social  and  their  political  conditions.  They  reared  their  one  church 
because  they  were  a  God-fearing  people,  and  around  it,  on  everv 
side,  as  far  as  the  convenience  of  distance  woiild  permit,  they  built 
their  homes.  The  area  which  covered  each  one  of  these  little  circles 
was  called  a  town,  and  it  had  its  own  laws  for  the  protection  of  its 
people.  In  the  words  of  Jefterson,  it  became  a  "small  elemental 
republic,"  and  it  had  a  correspoiiding  dignity  and  power. 

For  the  purpose  of  defense  against  the  savage  and  all  foreign 
foes,  and  for  other  reasons  a  number  of  these  little  republics  were 
formed  into  the  colony  of  Connecticut,  and  this  colony,  in  1776,  by 
the  successful  Declaration  of  Independence,  became  the  state  of 
Connecticut,  and  its  towns  retain,  unchanged,  this  prerogative  of 
representation  which  I  have  mentioned.  A  dozen  years  later  a 
union  of  all  the  states  was  formed,  a;id  the  Connecticut  plan  was 
considered  sO'  wise  and  so  beneficent  that  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  was  in  large  degree  framed  after  the  pattern  of  our 
own  state  constitution ;  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  was 
planned,  in  principle  and  form,  the  same  as  our  General  Assembly. 
The  prerogative  of  the  Connecticut  towns  in  the  one  case  was  the 
same  as  that  of  the  states  of  the  Union  in  the  other.  Plainfield  has 
two  representatives  in  the  Legislature  and  New  Haven  has  two ; 
the  little  state  of  Delaware  has  two  senators  in  the  national  Congresri 


ADDRESS    BY    GEORGE    E.    LOUNSBURY,    GOVERNOR.  57 

and  New  York,  the  empire  state,  has  two.  There  is  no  more  reason 
for  the  cry  of  "rotten  borough"  in  the  one  case  than  there  is  in 
the  other. 

We  hear  no  widespread  criticism  of  the  prerogative  of  even  the 
smallest  state  in  the  matter  of  the  number  of  its  United  States 
senators.  It  is  true  that  there  is  agitation  in  favor  of  their  election 
by  the  people,  and  there  would  seem  to  be  no  valid  objection  to 
this.  The  towns  of  Connecticut  exercise  their  prerogative  through 
the  popular  vote  and  there  can  be  nO'  wrong  if  the  states  of  the 
union  do  the  same. 

This  prerogative  of  the  town  has  come  tO'  you  as  a  heritage  from 
the  past,  but  its  power  has  been  given  to  you  as  a  trust  to  be  used 
for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people  of  this  state.  If  you  frown  upon 
all  special  legislation  which  helps  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the 
many,  which  favors  one  locality  and  wrongs  all  the  rest  of  the  state ; 
if  you  use  your  power  wisely,  unselfishly,  and  for  the  good  of  all, 
it  will  never  be  taken  away  from  you  and  you  can  ignore  the  cry  of 
the  demagO'gue.  But  abuse  this  power  and  it  will  be  swept  away  in 
some  storm  and  flood  of  public  indignation. 

I  hope  that  our  Connecticut  House  of  Representatives  will 
never  be  made  up  of  men  who  are  members  from  a  district.  I  trust 
that  our  town  representation,  as  a  principle  and  as  a  system,  will 
stand  forever.  But  from  time  to  time  there  will  be  need  of  some 
constitutional  amendment  to  mitigate  those  inequalities  which 
change  in  locality  and  in  population  brings.  You  will  recognize 
this  need  and  act  upon  it,  but  you  will  see  that  every  such  amend- 
ment is  adopted  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  constitution  itself. 
We  need  the  gentle  rains  of  heaven,  but  we  want  no  flood.  You 
want  no  constitutional  convention  which  antedates  the  day  of  the 
millenium. 

National  issues  will  always  divide  the  honest  people  of  the  land 
into  great  parties,  but  these  parties  will  always  harmonize  in  the 
sentiment  of  one  country,  one  flag,  and  the  preservation  of  its 
power.  The  honest  people  of  a  town  may  properly  divide  upon 
national  questions,  but,  ever  jealous  of  their  rights  and  their  privi- 
leges, they  should  stand  together  in  the  defense  of  the  honor,  the 
dignity  and  the  prerogative  of  the  town. 


58  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

ADDRESS. 


Hon.  Charles  A.  Russell. 


Fellozv  Citisens: 

It  seems  strange  to  us  that  Plainfield,  with  to-day  its  large 
and  thrifty  industries  and  with  its  cultured  and  cultivated  homes 
of  peace  and  farms  of  plenty,  was  once  the  frontier  town  of  civiliza- 
tion. But  such  is  the  record  of  history.  Right  here  among  these 
busy  manufactories  and  on  these  fertile  and  blossoming  fields  was 
an  outpost,  the  skirmish  line  between  American  progress  and  native 
barbarism. 

Nearly  two  hundred  years  ago  the  General  Court  of  the  Con- 
necticut Colony  posted  its  sentinels  on  the  march  northward  and 
westward  into  the  wilderness,  into  the  fastnesses  of  savagery.  Full 
communities  and  whole  towns  were  made  the  sentinels  and  the 
■outposts.  It  is  interesting  to  trace  the  line  of  defense  and  advance 
which  was  thrown  around  the  then  small  but  ambitious  area  of  a 
new  civilization.  Danbury  held  the  right  of  the  line  and  Plainfield 
held  the  left.  Simsbury  was  in  the  center.  Waterbury  and  Wood- 
bury held  the  right  centre.  Mansfield  and  Colchester  and  Windham 
were  strung  on  the  left  centre.  Thus  was  formed  this  bulwark  of 
frontier  towns,  this  van-guard  of  the  ever  growing  army  of  civiliza- 
tion, this  skirmish  line  of  Puritan  peace  and  western  prosperity,  this 
beginning  of  a  brighter  freedom,  a  fuller  liberty  and  a  better  govern- 
ment. 

It  was  at  a  court  of  election,  holden  at  Hartford,  May  11,  1704, 
that  the  deputies  assembled  from  the  different  towns  of  the  Con- 
necticut Colony,  and  after  due  deliberation  adopted  the  act,  estab- 
lishing the  frontier  towns  and  providing  for  the  military  protection 
of  the  frontier.  Wlnthrop  was  Governor,  and  first  in  the  list  of 
assistants  "present  and  sworn"  at  this  assembly  is  the  name  of  Major 
James  Fitch.  This  same  Major  Fitch  appears  to  have  been  a  promi- 
nent and  aggressive  man  in  the  early  life  and  settlement  of  Plainfield. 
The  protective  frontier  act  of  this  early  court  of  colonial  Connecti- 
cut declared  its  purpose  and  necessity  in  these  words  of  preamble: 
^'Forasmuch  as  the  maintaining  and  defending  of  the  frontiers  in 


ADDRESS    r,Y    HON.    CHARLES    A.    RUSSELL.  59 

time  of  war  is  of  very  great  importance,  and  in  regard  it  would 
greatly  prejudice  her  Majesty's  interest  and  encourage  the  enemy 
if  any  of  the  outposts  should  be  quitted,  or  exposed  by  lessening  the 
strength  thereof."  In  these  days  the  positive  disavowal  of  the  sturdy 
forefather  of  any  notion  of  quitting  the  position  which  he  had  taken 
is  noteworthy  and  perchance  instructive  and  suggestive.  The  act 
which  follows  this  plain  spoken  preamble,  reads  as  follows  : 

"It  is  therefor  ordered  by  this  Court,  That  the  frontier  towns 
hereafter  named  are  to  be  so  accounted,  that  is  to  say,  Symsbury, 
Waterbury,  Woodbury,  Danbury,  Colchester,  Windham,  Mansfield 
and  Plainfield,  and  shall  not  be  broken  up  or  voluntarily  deserted 
without  application  first  made  by  the  inhabitants  and  allowance  had 
and  obtained  from  this  Court ;  nor  shall  any  inhabitant  of  the 
frontiers  mentioned,  having  an  estate  of  freehold  in  lands  and 
tenements  within  the  same,  at  the  time  of  any  insurrection  or  break- 
ing forth  of  war  remove  from  thence  with  intent  to  sojourn  else- 
where without  liberty  aforesaid,  on  pain  of  forfeiting  all  his  estate  in 
lands  and  tenements  lying  within  such  townships,  to  be  recovered  by 
information  of  and  proof  made  by  the  selectmen  of  such  town. 

"And  it  is  further  enacted :  That  no  male  person  of  sixteen 
years  old  and  upwards,  that  shall  be  an  inhabitant  of  or  belonging 
to  any  of  the  towns  afore  mentioned  at  the  time  of  such  war  or 
insurrection,  shall  presume  to  leave  such  place  on  penalty  of  ten 
pounds,  to  be  recovered  as  aforesaid ;  all  which  penalties  to  be  im- 
proved towards  the  defence  of  such  place  or  places  whereof  such 
person  or  persons  were  inhabitants." 

So  Plainfield  became  a  frontier  town.  Soi  its  situation  gave  it 
an  opportunity.  And  there  is  nothing  in  the  record  or  in  the  tradi- 
tion to  indicate  that  the  Plainfield  folks  of  nearly  two  hundred  years 
ago  were  unequal  to  their  opportunity.  They  were  not  "quitters." 
They  appear  to  have  been  wide-awake  sentinels.  They  never  were 
surprised  on  the  outposts  and  they  kept  pushing  fonvard,  little  by 
little,  the  skirmish  line  into  the  barbarians'  country  and  they  never 
seem  to  have  dallied  long  or  parleyed  much  as  tO'  the  enemy's 
consent. 

A  frontier  town !     It  is  difficult  for  us  in  the  quiet,  peace  and 


6o  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

comfort  of  present  New  England  to  realize  what  it  meant  two 
hundred  years  ago  to  be  a  frontier  town  and  a  garrison  thereof. 
Dangers  and  difficulties  beset  the  existence  of  such  towns  and  the 
life  of  such  garrisons.  Wilderness  of  beasts,  untamed  soil  and  even 
greater  savagery  of  man  were  ever  present  foes  and  constantly 
lurking  enemies.  Nature  perhaps  was  more  easily  overcome  than 
the  man,  who  in  the  freedom  of  his  nativity  recognized  and  desired 
neither  enlightenment  nor  progress. 

A  frontiersman !  We  can  admire  but  not  fully  realize  the 
courage  and  nerve  and  sturdy  manhood  which  must  clothe  the  gar- 
rison on  the  frontier.  The  guardsman  on  the  outpost  is  a  character 
which  in  all  periods  of  American  life  has  symbolized  the  genius  of 
American  institutions.  Sometimes  severe ;  always  watchful.  Some- 
times aggressive ;  always  progressive.  Sometimes  cleaving  the 
pathway  with  the  sword ;  always  following  with  the  torch  of  en- 
lightenment of  the  church  and  the  school.  Thus  has  stood  and 
marched  our  frontiersman,  who  had  his  early  type  in  the  ancestry 
of  Plainfield. 

Frontiership  has  constantly  been  on  the  move.  The  outposts, 
have  steadily  advanced.  The  world's  contest  and  humanity's  con- 
quest have  been  battles  with  the  frontier  as  the  skirmish  line.  Amer- 
ican civilization  has  travelled  and  travelled  and  the  frontier  town 
has  moved  and  moved,  ever  onward  and  onward,  following  the  sun 
until  now  what  was  begun  on  the  Danbury  and  Plainfield  line  has 
reached  the  western  point  of  the  sun's  setting  and  is  ready  to-  rise 
again  with  the  rising  of  the  sun  tO'  subdue  and  regenerate  the  un- 
civilized East  in  a  second  cycle  of  the  world's  evolution  from  bar- 
barism tO'  enlightenment. 

In  1704  Plainfield  was  the  frontier.  In  1899  Manila  is  the 
frontier.  The  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  sees  the  outpost 
of  civilization  advanced  twelve  thousand  miles.  Can  we  to-day  in 
celebrating  the  anniversary  of  Plainfield  regret  the  progress?  Is 
there  any  occasion  tO'  become  doleful  or  uncertain  over  the  spread 
of  the  ideas  and  the  purposes  which  are  buttressed  on  the  Plainfield 
outpost?  Wonderful,  as  with  Divine  fruition,  has  grown  the  civili- 
zation, the  blessing  of  humanity,  which  was  set  up  and  advanced 


POEM    BV    GEORGE    SHEPARD    BURLEIGH,  6l 

from  the  frontier  line  of  colonial  Connecticut!  God  speed  the 
further  progress!  What  might  have  happened  if  the  Plainfield 
people  had  quitted  the  outposts  in  1704  can  happen  if  the  United 
States'  men  quit  the  outpost  in  1899.  Plainfield  was  not  in  a 
"quitting"  business  two  hundred  years  ago.  The  United  States  is 
not  less  courageous,  not  less  progressive,  not  less  mindful  of  duties 
to  civilization  than  her  ancestral  towns. 


TO  PLAINFIELD,  CONN. 


On  Her  Two-Hundredth  anniversary. 

Two  hundred  years  of  storm  and  calm, 
In  winter's  snow  and  summer's  sun, 
Along  thy  hills  and  vales  have  run 

The  varied  notes  of  nature's  psalm. 

The  red  men  were  thy  primal  flock, 
Free  wanderers  of  the  solemn  woods. 
Who  made  their  ancient  solitudes 

The  heaven  of  their  Manitowock. 

Rude  types  of  their  barbaric  skill, 
On  intervale  and  sandy  plain 
Flint  axe  and  arrow  points  remain, 

In  childhood  sought,  and  treasured  still. 

On  yonder  hill-side  looking  down 

To  where  the  iron  "fire-steed"  neighs, 
Began  my  life  and  childish  lays 

That  grew  despite  the  muses'  frown. 

Behind  the  stately  plough  I  learned 
The  lore  that  made  thy  sturdy  sons 
The  elect  of  freedom's  champions, 

By  whom  the  tyrant's  yoke  was  spurned. 

I  roved  thy  wooded  hills  as  free 
As  the  lithe  Indian,  and  made  love 
To  rock  and  stream  and  chestnut  grove, 

And  there  was  peace  'twixt  thee  and  me. 


62  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

And  there  is  peace  in  all  thy  bounds, 
O  land  of  wood-crowned  hill  and  plain, 
Of  billowy  fields  of  golden  grain, 

And  labor  with  its  myriad  sounds. 

The  hum  of  spindles  and  the  roar 
Of  rushing  engines  fill  the  air. 
Once  rent  by  Indian  war-whoops  where 

The  river  laves  Wauregan's  shore. 

And  looking  down  your  elm-arcades, 
In  fancy  ye  may  see,  below, 
The  glittering  hosts  of  Rochambeau, 

Our  struggling  nation's  gallant  aids. 

With  two  broad  centuries  on  thy  brow, 

0  thou  whose  green  hills  saw  my  birth, 

1  bless  thy  children,  and  the  earth, 
Their  foster-nurse  of  old  as  now. 

Not  cradles  only,  but  their  peers — 

Low  graves,  love-haunted,  bind  me  still, 
Liege-man,  to  every  vale  and  hill, 

That  even  affection's  self  endears. 

In  mounds  that  shield  from  sun  and  storm. 
Thy  green  "God's  Acre"  holds  in  trust 
A  sainted  mother's  sacred  dust, 

A  father's  venerated  form ; 

And  ]3urer  than  of  orient  pearl, 

An  angel's  flesh, — resigned  with  tears 
That  will  not  dry  for  all  these  years — 

The  earth-robe  'of  our  baby  girl. 

Yet  other  kindred  in  thy  care 

Have  left,  anear,  their  mortal  clay ; 

And  haply  at  no  distant  day 
Thy  alien  son  may  join  them  there ! 

George  Shepard  Burleigh. 


REMINISCENCES    BY    REV.    J.    P.    BROWN.  6^ 

REMINISCENCES  OF  TWENTY-TWO  YEARS' 
RESIDENCE  IN  PLAINFIELD. 


Rev.  J.  P.  Brown. 

I  want  at  the  opening  of  my  remarks  to  drop  a  word  of  caution 
to  my  hearers.  My  bald  head  and  white  whiskers  may  suggest  the 
thought  that  something  rich  in  historic  memories  will  be  brought 
to  your  notice  in  this  brief  address.  'But  you  will  allow  me  to  say 
that  in  my  best  days  I  did  not  excel  in  this  line  of  study,  and  it  seems 
that  the  few  bright  thoughts  that  I  once  cherished  have  all  faded 
out  with  my  whiskers  or  gone  off  with  my  hair,  but  if  any  can  be 
found  way  back  in  the  cells  of  memory,  though  they  have  lost  their 
brilliancy  by  the  wear  of  time,  I  will  do  what  I  can  to  bring  them  out. 

I  came  to^  this  honored  town  that  had  an  enviable  reputation  ar 
the  time  extending  beyond  its  own  limits,  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
county  in  which  it  was  located,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  state  even^ 
in  1849.  This  desirable  reputation  was  largely  due  to  her  honored 
seat  of  learning,  and  to-  the  distinguished  men  and  women  who'  did 
so  much  to  sustain  it.  You  will  see  that  in  some  sense  I  was  a 
forty-niner.  While  many  of  my  friends  were  starting  for  the 
Pacific  coasts,  some  across  the  isthmus,  others  around  the  cape, 
charmed  by  the  almost  fabulous  reports  that  came  to  them  concern- 
ing rich  mines  that  offered  wealth  to  the  early  comer,  I  came  to  this 
town  with  little  prospect  of  worldly  gain,  certainly  with  nO'  golden 
dreams ;  but  my  coming  was  more  to  me,  whatever  it  might  have 
been  to  others,  than  the  fortunes  of  the  most  successful  adventurers 
of  that  day. 

While  attention  has  been  called  to  the  Academy  on  this  classic 
hill,  it  may  be  well  to  say  here  and  now,  without  an  attempt  to  give 
anything  like  a  history  of  the  institution,  that  her  influence  was  ap- 
parent in  all  this  section.  There  was  an  air  of  culture  and  refine- 
ment in  these  homes  and  places  of  business  that  indicated  that  good 
work  had  been  done  along  the  lines  of  education.  I  have  within  a 
few  blocks  of  my  residence,  more  than  one,  and  out  of  the  state 
know  another,  who  now  close  upon  eighty  years  of  age,  were  in 


•64  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

this  school  when  in  their  teens.     They  carry  with  them  now  marks 
of  their  early  training  after  more  than  six  decades. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  while  here  to  be  on  the  board  of  educa- 
tion, and  some  of  the  time  acting  visitor  in  the  schools,  and  while  in 
this  service  I  learned  more  of  the  characteristics  of  childhood  and 
3'outh  than  from  all  other  sources  put  together.  Children  are 
creatures  of  imitation.  We  sometimes  say,  "young  men  follow 
young  men,"  and  this  is  no  more  true  of  young  men  than  of  chil- 
dren. If  the  tendency  of  the  majority  is  in  the  right,  the  minority 
will  imitate  that  majority,  with  few  exceptions ;  but  if  the  tendency 
of  the  majority  is  in  the  wrong  the  minority  will  imitate  the  majority 
in  the  wrong.  Here  is  a  pleasant  little  illustration  that  came  to  my 
notice  while  acting  visitor  in  the  schools  of  this  town,  which  though 
somewhat  amusing,  may  not  be  entirely  irrelevant  in  this  case.  On 
entering  one  of  the  more  rural  schools  in  the  summer  on  my  official 
visits,  I  found,  if  my  memory  is  correct,  that  every  scholar,  with  one 
exception,  was  there  with  uncovered  feet.  This  one  forming  the 
exception,  was  a  beautiful  little  girl  from  a  home  of  cultivated  taste 
and  refinement.  Her  dainty  feet  were  not  allowed  to  touch 
the  soil  over  which  she  walked,  but  in  this  instance,  the  custom 
which  prevailed  in  that  school  was  stronger,  for  the  time  being, 
than  her  careful  home  training.  Feeling  that  there  was  an  incon- 
gruity here  that  should  not  exist,  she  quietly,  and  unobserved,  re- 
moved the  covering  from  her  feet  that  she  might  be  in  harmony 
with  her  schoolmates.  It  was  not  in  good  form,  as  we  now  say,  in 
that  school  to  have  shoes  on  the  feet  of  scholars.  This  shows  how 
hard  it  is  to  breast  prevailing  custom — to  be  out  of  fashion,  if  you 
please — as  well  as  the  importance  of  cultivating  a  correct  taste  in 
dress,  and  a  proper  regard  for  the  habits  of  life. 

Weddings. 

This  is  a  feature  of  my  subject  that  will  have  to  be  touched 
hghtly.  More  than  two  hundred  couples  were  joined  in  wedlock — 
most  of  them  in  happy  wedlock  I  am  pleased  to  say — by  me,  while 
on  this  field.  Some  of  them  are  here  to-day.  They,  their  children, 
and  grandchildren,  are  a  source  of  pleasure  to  me.     I  am  happy  to 


REMINISCENCES    BY    REV.    J.    P.    BROWN.  65 

know  that  so  many  of  them  are  worthy  citizens  and  that  some  of 
them  are  in  important  and  responsible  positions  and  are  filhng 
them  with  honor  to  themselves  and  to  their  friends. 

The  times  have  changed  somewhat  along  this  line  of  action  as 
well  as  in  almost  all  others  since  I  came  on  to  this  field.  The  pre- 
liminary movements  towards  matrimony  may  be  the  same  now  as 
then,  possibly.  Who  can  tell?  The  uninitiated  certainly  know 
nothing  about  it,  and  I  question  the  ability  of  anyone  who  has  passed 
the  ordeal  successfully  tO'  write  out  an  order  that  could  be  followed 
by  a  novice.  The  parties  have  met  somehow  and  so'mewhere,  apart 
from  all  others,  and  after  some  small  talk — "beating  around  the 
bush" — they  in  some  way  reach  the  important  question,  and  that 
which  has  caused  so  much  trepidation  is  settled.  The  next  thing  in 
order  is  on  other  hands.  The  doting  parents  of  the  bride-elect  must 
now  furnish  an  entertainment,  more  or  less  elaborate,  tO'  which  a 
few,  choice  friends  of  the  parties  are  invited,  and  then  the  fact  of  the 
engagement  is  announced,  but,  of  course,  not  the  steps  by  which  this 
happy  conclusion  was  reached.  "Coming  events  now  cast  their 
shadow  before  them."  But  when  I  began  my  ministry  here  nothing 
of  this  kind  was  known.  When  the  preliminaries  had  all  been  at- 
tended to  by  the  interested  parties,  in  secret  session,  the  fact  was 
made  known  to  the  pastor,  who,  as  required  by  law,  announced  that 
fact  from  the  pulpit.  In  many  cases  nothing  was  known  of  the 
afTair,  out  of  the  immediate  families,  till  it  was  "Published" — often 
to  the  great  surprise  and  merriment  of  the  young  people.  Did  this 
legal  custoim  have  a  tendency  to  increase  congregations?  Has  the 
abolishment  of  it  had  anything  tO'  do  with  diminished  church  at- 
tendance?    Who  will  answer? 

In  speaking  of  publishing  marriage  intentions  you  will  allov/ 
me  to  give  an  item  of  my  experience  in  this  matter.  The  law  re- 
quired that  all  publishments  of  this  kind  should  be  read  in  a  religious 
meeting,  and  all  meetings  opened  by  prayer  were  called  religions. 
In  such  meetings,  however  small,  a  publishment  might  be  read  and 
thus  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  law.  It  seemed  that  a  couple 
had  applied  to  a  gentleman  of  the  legal  profession  to  be  united  in 
wedlock,  but  the  parties  had  not  been  published.  It  was  evident 
5 


66  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

from  some  cause,  that  never  came  to  my  knowledge,  that  the  party- 
were  anxious  that  the  rite  should  receive  immediate  attention.  But 
how  could  the  question  of  publishment  be  settled?  There  was  no 
religious  meeting  in  session,  nor  would  there  be  till  the  coming 
Sabbath.  In  order  to  meet  the  emergency,  the  legal  gentleman 
joined  by  one  of  our  leading  business  men  came  to^  my  door  with 
the  request  that  a  i>rayer  meeting  be  inaugurated  at  once  in  my 
parlor,  at  the  close  of  which  the  publishment  might  be  read.  But 
who  would  come  to  such  a  meeting?  I  had  never  seen  them  in  a 
prayer  meeting.  They  replied  that  they  were  sufficient  tO'  make 
the  audience,  but  would  take  no  part  in  the  service.  I,  with  a 
mental  protest,  went  through  the  farce,  at  the  close  of  which  I  read 
the  publishment  and  gave  a  certificate,  and  they  retired,  after  saying 
it  was  right — that  it  answered  the  requirements  of  the  law.  I  then 
knew  what  they  thought  of  the  matter,  but  the  question  with  me 
was  what  does  the  Lord  think  of  such  mummery? 

I  received  as  a  fee  one  dollar  for  my  first  wedding,  and  then 
walked  three  miles  to  the  office  of  the  town  clerk  to-  have  it  recorded 
and  paid  a  nine-pence,  or  twelve  and  half  cents  for  the  service.  Do 
not  think  they  were  all  like  this. 

Politics. 

I  was  never  a  politician,  according  to  the  general  use  of  that 
term.  I  was  well  up  in  my  thirties  when  made  an  elector,  when  I 
cast  my  first  vote,  and  then  it  was  reluctantly  done.  Indeed  it  was  not 
a  very  common  sight  tO'  see  a  clergyman  at  the  polls.  In  the  early 
history  of  our  country  it  might  have  been  different ;  if  so,  the  custom 
had  then  fallen  into  disuse.  The  calling  was  considered  too  high, 
if  not  toO'  sacred,  to  enter  the  political  arena.  But  the  time  had 
now  come  when  great  moral  questions  had  been  thrust  into  politics 
and  then  the  whole  thing  was  changed.  The  minister  could  no 
longer  be  non-committal  without  being  recreant  to  his  high  calling. 
From  the  early  fifties  to  1865  there  were  no  "soft  places"  in  the 
North  for  clergymen,  nor  was  there  any  chief  captain,  as  in  Paul's 
case,  fearing  lest  they  should  be  pulled  in  pieces,  to  command  the 
soldiers  to  take  them  to  a  place  of  safety.     The  passage  of  the 


REMINISCENCES    BY    REV.    J.    P.    BROWN.  67 

"Fugitive  Slave  Bill"  by  Congress,  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  and  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, had  thrown  all  the  free  states  into  the  wildest  frenzy.     Not 
even  the  bombardment  of   Sumter  could  essentially   increase  the 
excitement  that  had  existed  at  an  earlier  date.     Ministers  whirled 
from  their  positions,  as  if  caught  in  a  cyclone,  allowed  themselves 
to  say  what  in  their  calmer  moments  would  have  been  considered 
profane.     And  what  made  the  matter  still  more  alarming  was  the 
demand  made  for  this,  by  the  leading  men  in  our  churches  on  one 
side,  and  the  bitter  opposition  to  it  on  the  other.     This  was  more 
particularly  true  during  the  decade  immediately  preceding  the  open- 
ing of  the  Civil  War.     This  was  a  period  of  great  anxiety  to  every 
American  citizen,  but  to  none  more  than  to  the  clergymen  then  in 
active  life.     From  the  very  nature  of  his  calling,  he  was  under  the 
necessity  of  speaking  often  to  the  people,  when  they  were  in  their 
most  critical  moods.     One  living  now  who  was  not  then  upon  the 
stage  of  action  can  have  no  conception  of  the  state  of  the  public 
mind  at  that  time.     The  people  were  religious,  not  to  say  pious, 
beyond  measure.     On  one  side  they  would  say  to  the  minister,  this 
is  the  cause  of  God ;  we  are  engaged  in  a  holy  crusade,  and  if  you 
do  not  join  us  in  the  struggle — join  us  publicly — you  lose  the  op- 
portunity of  your  life,  and  what  is  more,  you  prove  false  to  your 
profession.     If  they  did  not  say  this  in  so  many  words  to  him,  they 
would  say  it  in  public  places,  knowing  that  their  sayings  would 
come  to  his  ears.      On  the  other  hand,  his  people  looking  at  the 
same  question,  from  another  point  of  observation,  would  become 
suddenly   unusually  religious  too,   and   be  deeply   pained   at   the 
thought  of  their  beloved  pastor's  coming  down  from  the  work  to 
which  he  had  been  set  apart  by  the  imposition  of  holy  hands  to 
enter  the  arena  of  politics.     These  pious   souls  were   scandalized 
when  churches  were  opened  for  political  crowds  and  pulpits  were 
used  for  the  discussion  of  the  burning  questions  of  the  day.     Thus 
you   see  that  ministers  were  suspended   between  these   two  con- 
tending forces.     It  is  a  wonder  that  any  of  them  escaped  destruction 
while  in  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell  of  those  perilous  times.     In 
some   way   I    came   out   of  the   fiery   contest   unharmed    and   was 


68  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

honored  by  this  good  old  town  at  the  very  close  of  the  war  in  1865 
with  a  seat  in  the  Legislature  of  this  state.     I  never  knew  why. 

I  might  speak  of  my  visits  in  these  homes  in  times  of  afflictions ; 
of  the  more  than  five  hundred  funerals  attended  in  these  families, 
and  of  the  wonderful  works  of  grace  seen  on  this  field,  but  time 
will  not  permit.  I  will  therefore  close  by  expressing  the  hope  that 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  those  honored  fathers  and  mothers,  whose 
memory  we  so  tenderly  cherish,  may  prove  themselves  worthy  of 
their  noble  ancestry. 


ADDRESS. 


C.    E.    TiLLINGHAST. 


Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Citiaens  of  Grand  Old  Plainfield: 
I  thank  you  for  this  kind  introduction  and  cordial  reception. 
I  accept  it  as  a  compliment  to  the  name  I  bear  and  which  you  have 
been  pleased  to  honor*  so  highly  during  a  large  portion  of  the  time 
since  the  township's  organization,  rather  than  as  personal  to 
myself. 

I  need  not  assure  you  I  am  delighted  tO'  be  honored  as  your 
guest  to-day,  for  next  to  a  blue-eyed,  blue-grass  Nightingale  of 
Yankee  extraction,  I  always  did  give  my  whole  heart  to  governors, 
congressmen,  judges  and  clergymen.  The  Tillinghast  family  con- 
sider all  clergymen  near  relatives,  with  an  extra  shake  for  Baptists. 
My  father — God  bless  his  memory — was  a  Baptist  clergyman,  with 
a  heart  and  sympathy  that  yearned  to  grasp  the  human  race  in  his 
arms  and  present  them  spotless  before  his  Maker.  He  had  a 
brother  John  and  a  son  Jared,  both  clergymen,  and  we  have 
descended  through  seven  generations,  many  of  whom  were  minis- 
ters, from  Elder  Pardon  Tillinghast,  the  first,  whO'  came  from  the 
south  of  England,  near  Brighton,  and  settled  with  Roger  Williams 
in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in  1656,  being  forty-three  years  prior 

♦Judge  Waldo  Tillinghast ;  Fred  W.  Tillinghast,  Probate  Clerk ;  Frank  H.  Tillinghast,  Esq., 
Hon.  Caleb  Tillinghast.  C.  E.  T. 


ADDRESS   BY    C.    E.    TILLINGHAST.  69 

to  the  organization  of  this  town.  As  some  of  you  may  be  aware 
Elder  Pardon  built  the  first  Baptist  Church  in  the  United  States 
and  gave  it  by  deed  to  his  congregation,  which  is  still  the  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Providence.  He  also  built  the  first  wharf  in 
that  city,  being  a  merchant  as  well  as  a  preacher.  He  now  sleeps 
in  the  rear  of  the  church  with  a  suitable  monument  to  mark  his 
resting  place. 

Although  I  have  only  visited  Plainfield  occasionally  during 
the  last  thirty  years,  I  am  one  of  its  true  and  loyal  admirers,  and 
have  abundant  reasons  for  my  admiration.  I  was  born  and  edu- 
cated here  and  count  among  the  very  best  friends  I  ever  had  some 
of  your  most  estimable  citizens  with  whom  I  could  always  find  a 
welcome  and  a  home.  My  first  visit  to  Plainfield  was  to  attend  a 
birthday  party  held  in  my  honor  at  my  father's  house  on  Shepherd 
Hill,  located  across  the  street  near  where  Gen.  Atwood's  house  now 
stands.  Old  Dr.  Burgess  was  master  of  ceremonies,  and  Hon. 
Caleb  Tillinghast,  and  your  honorable  judge  of  probate  were  among 
the  guests.  I  was  dressed  in  the  only  bran-new  birthday  suit  I 
remember  ever  having  had,  and  although  very  young  I  succeeded 
in  attracting  attention  and  making  myself  heard,  notwithstanding 
the  prophecies  that  I  was  tongue-tied.  Wauregan  was  not  built 
until  years  after,  and  there  were  only  four  houses  on  Shepherd  Hill 
at  that  time.  I  will  briefly  refer  to  a  few  incidents  of  my  early 
life  that  we  may  be  able  to  draw  a  comparison  with  the  present, 
and  thus  discover  what  remarkable  progress  the  town  has  made. 

The  first  home  I  remember  was  near  Glen  Falls,  the  old  Backus 
place,  which  included  an  old-time  saw  and  grist  mill  and  which  the 
poet  has  most  minutely  described  in  the  "Old  Oaken  Bucket,"  as 
all  who  remember  the  place  will  recognize. 

"How  dear  tO'  my  heart  are  the  scenes  of  my  childhood 

When  fond  recollection  recalls  them  to  view; 
The  orchard,  the  meadow,  the  deep  tang-led  wildwood, 

And  every  loved  spot  my  infancy  knew; 
The  wide-spreading-  pond  and  the  mill  that  stood  by  it, 

The  bridge,  and  the  rock  where  the  cataract  fell; 
The  home  of  the  loved  ones,  the  elm  that  stood  nigh  it, 

The  old  oaken  bucket  that  hung  in  the  well." 


7°  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

All  were  there,  the  deep  tangled  wildwood,  the  mill,  the  bridge, 
the  rock  and  the  cataract,  the  old  oaken  bucket,  well-curb,  old- 
fashioned  well-sweep  and  all.  Wheeled  vehicles  were  not  common 
at  that  time,  and  the  farmers  brought  grain  to  market  on  horse- 
back, rye  which  was  cut  with  a  sickle  and  threshed  by  hand.  Hay 
was  cut  with  a  hand-scythe  and  gathered  with  a  hand-rake,  not 
even  a  grain  cradle  or  a  drag-rake  having  been  invented,  so  far 
as  I  am  aware.  Much  of  the  wearing  apparel  was  made  from 
home-spun  and  home-woven  wool  or  flax  ;  boots  and  shoes  were 
also  largely  home-made. 

'The  first  school  I  attended  was  at  the  old  Goshen  school- 
house  ;  the  seats  and  writing  desks  running  around  three  sides  of 
the  room ;  the  larger  boys  and  girls  pivoting  themselves  upon  the 
bench  as  they  turned  to  write  and  cypher  and  back  again  to  read 
and  spell.  My  first  teacher  was  required  to  teach  the  entire  list 
from  Acr  Be  Ce  to  "Readin',''  "  'Ritin'  "  and  "  'Rithmetic,"  and 
also  to  make  the  goose-quill  pens  for  writing  purposes,  the  scholars 
furnishing  their  own  quills  and  home-made  ink  and  copy-books.  I 
completed  my  ''college"  course  at  the  old  academy  on  yonder  hill 
under  Professor  Lucian  Burleigh.  Among  the  foremost  of  those 
who  attended  at  the  same  time  was  one  of  your  distinguished 
speakers,  now  Rev.  Chas.  C.  Spaulding,  of  Boston.  Your  chair- 
man of  committee  on  speakers,  Hon.  Joseph  Hutchins,  was  one 
of  the  leading,  reliable  citizens  of  the  town  then,  as  now.  From  the 
corner  where  he  lives  to*  the  depot  there  was  not  a  single  habitation. 
The  population  of  the  town  was  less  than  one-half  what  it  is  to-day. 
You  will  thus  see  what  rapid  changes  and  material  advancement 
Plainfield  has  made  during  my  short  life. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  "he  who  causes  two  blades  of  grass 
to  grow  where  only  one  grew  before"  is  a  public  benefactor.  What 
shall  be  said  then  of  our  patient,  brave  and  able  forefathers  and 
foremothers  who  converted  this  township  from  a  wilderness,  the 
lurking  place  of  savages  and  wild  beasts,  under  circumstances  as 
related  by  your  able  historian,  into  the  joyous  homes,  perfumed 
gardens,  and  fruitful  fields  we  now  behold,  who  planted  the 
orchards  and  shade  trees,   erected  the  churches  and   schools,  the 


ADDRESS    BY    C.    E.    TILLINGHAST.  7I 

busy  mills  and  manufactories,  and,  better  than  all,  seeded  its  broad 
acres  with  conscience  and  with  God. 

"All  power  and  pelf  that  ends  in  self, 

Is  naught  but  vanity: 
They  crown  themselves  with  immortelles 

Who  serve  humanity." 

We  meet  to-day  to  re-crown  the  several  generations  who  so 
well  laid  the  foundation  and  perseveringly  developed  this  township's 
prosperity  and  happiness,  and  thus  rendered  a  most  important  and 
lasting  service  to  humanity  for  all  time.  "They  did  what  they  had 
to  do,  and  builded  better  than  they  knew."  Most  have  been  car- 
ried by  loving  hands  and  tearful  hearts  to  their  final  rest  beneath 
the  solemn  pines  and  weeping  willows — not  dead,  for  to  live  in  the 
liearts  of  those  we  leave  behind  is  not  to  die.  The  result  oi  their 
toil  and  efforts  remains  as  a  permanent  inheritance  to  you ;  and 
Avho  shall  measure  the  sum  of  human  happiness  thus  bequeathed  to 
generations  yet  unborn?  Heroes  every  one — "verily  peace  hath 
Tier  victories  more  renowned  than  war." 

The  casual  reader  of  general  history  would  conclude  that  the 
leader  of  great  armies  was  the  only  hero,  and  the  magnitude  of  his 
■fame  dependent  upon  the  multitude  of  devastated  cities,  ruined 
homes,  agonized  mothers,  despairing  wives,  homeless  orphans  and 
bleaching  skeletons,  chargeable  to  his  account — how  extensive  the 
zone  of  fire  and  pillage  and  tears  and  blood  he  could  leave  as  an 
inheritance  to  mankind,  "the  monument  of  his  glory." 

Behold  these  majestic  elms* — giant  Sentinels  of  the  town, 
guarding  alike  from  summer's  scorching  ray  and  winter's  chilling 
"blast— the  storm  king's  fury  and  tornado's  wrath — ancient  Patriarchs 
with  arms  extended  in  perpetual  benediction,  invoking  heaven's 
richest  blessings ;  every  branch  and  twig  and  leaf  an  uplifting,  ele- 
vating inspiration,  ever  wooing  mortals  to  a  higher  and  better 
life.     Who  would  not  consider  that  the  author  of  a  single  one  of 


*Plainfield  is  noted  for  the  numerous  large,  fine  elms,  skirting  each  side  of  the  street  for  a  con- 
■siderable  distance,  the  boughs  intermingling  overhead,  shutting  out  the  sun  and  forming  a  complete 
arch.  The  boughs  of  the  largest  extend  63  feet,  either  way  from  the  trunk  being  nearly  S}i  rods 
across  or  about  1-12  of  a  mile  around  the  extreme  ends.     The  trunk  is  18  feet  in  circumference. 

C.  E.  T. 


72  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL, 

these  has  rendered  a  better  service  to  humanity  than  the  renowned 
home-wrecker  of  Lodi,  and  AusterHtz  and  Waterloo,  and  prefer  it 
as  a  monument  to  such  a  record,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been 
said  of  the  latter  in  song  and  story? 

I  am  glad  to^  believe  that  our  own  Grant  and  Dewey 
are  among  the  last  great  military  heroes  the  world  will  know,  and 
fittingly  so,  because  both  battled  for  the  rights  of  the  oppressed  and 
defenceless,  and  even  those  they  vanquished  are  victors,  as  all  are 
who  are  vanquished  by  the  right.  Already  the  Archangel  of  Arbi- 
tration hovers  above  every  throne  and  every  earthly  potentate,  and 
soon,  with  uplifted  hand  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  authority 
of  a  community  of  nations,  and  in  the  name  of  the  God 
of  justice,  mercy  and  peace,  shall  declare  that  might  is  no  longer 
the  measure  of  right,  that  the  divine  authority  of  kings  is  with  a 
limitation,  as  the  interests  of  the  weakest  shall  be  protected  equally 
with  the  strong,  that  the  arbitrament  of  an  international  tribuna! 
of  justice  shall  succeed  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  and  war  be- 
tween nations  forever  cease  from  the  earth.  Then  shall  the  dove 
of  peace  nest  in  every  household,  a  perpetual  assurance  tO'  mother, 
wife  and  child  that  their  loved  ones  shall  no  longer  be  sacrificed 
upon  the  gory  field  of  battle,  but  henceforth  shall  be  dedicated  to. 
the  peacable  pursuits  of  prosperity  and  happiness. 

If  the  cause  of  arbitration  shall  fail  to  fully  accomplish  the 
desired  end,  wireless  telegraphy  and  high  explosives  added  to  the 
present  implements  of  destruction  will  unquestionably  do'  so ;  as  it 
will  mean  annihilation  to  attack  any  considerable  well-equipped 
force. 

The  heroes  of  the  future  then  wall  of  necessity  be  those  of  peace,, 
and  a  more  crying  need  or  greater  opportunity  for  them  to  dis- 
tinguish themselves  never  before  existed,  especially  for  young  men. 
Wireless  telegraphy,  the  substitution  of  aluminum  in  great  measure 
for  iron  and  steel,  and  electricity  for  steam,  in  turn  perhaps  to  be 
succeeded  by  compressed  and  liquefied  air ;  horseless  vehicles  and 
farm  implements,  and  the  thousand  improvements  attendant  upon 
them,  furnish  an  opportunity  for  victories  of  peace  never  before  pre- 
sented.    The  same  is  true  in  national  problems,  which  are  quite  as 


ADDRESS    BY    HON.    E.    M.    WARNER.  73 

difficult  and  important  as  any  that  confronted  our  ancestors.  I  refer 
to  international  arbitration,  the  Panama  Canal,  the  control  of  Cuba, 
Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines,  the  race  question  of  the  South,  the 
reconciliation  of  labor  and  capital,  the  money  question,  the  ratio 
that  should  be  maintained  being  at  least  sixteen  heroes  to  one  block- 
head. 

As  you  stand  upon  the  threshold  of  the  third  century  of  your 
township's    organization,    do    not    fail  to    remember 

That  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  safety  ; 

That  the  ballot  box  is  the  ark  of  the  covenant  to  be  guarded  well 
and  neglected  never; 

That  the  home  is  the  unit  and  bulwark  of  our  liberty ; 

That  the  white  lilies  of  family  afifection  and  neighborly  kindness, 
which  grow  around  the  hearthstone  and  sickbed,  are  century  plants 
which  blossom  not  once  in  a  hundred  years  only,  but  every  hour  of 
every  day  of  every  year  throughout  all  the  centuries  ; 

That  true  friendship  to  God  and  man  is  a  fountain  of  joy,  a  river 
of  pure  delight  which  shall  flow  on  forever. 


ADDRESS. 


Hon.  E.  M.  Warner. 


Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I  am  reminded,  by  my  position  at  the  end  of  the  program, 
of  the  old  colored  parson  who  was  called  upon  to  invoke  Divine 
blessing  on  the  ''orator  of  the  day."  There  were  four  of  them, 
and  he  exhausted  most  of  his  adjectives  on  the  first  two,  had  few 
left  for  the  third,  and  none  at  all  for  the  fourth  "orator  of  de  day." 
Absolutely  at  a  loss  what  to  ask  for  him,  he  finally  burst  out  with 
"de  Lord  hab  mercy  on  his  soul." 

I  do  not  mean  by  this  story  that  you  or  I  need  commisseration,, 
for,  surely,  the  day  so  far  has  been  one  of  unalloyed  pleasure.  Nobly 
have  your  bicentennial  committee  performed  the  duties  assigned 
them.     A  splendid  parade,  exhibiting  all  the  varied  industries  and 


74  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

interests  of  the  tOAvn — a  most  masterly,  or  rather  womanly,  review 
•of  the  early  days  by  Miss  Larned — a  judicial  and  profound  con- 
sideration of  the  legal  aspects  of  the  same  period  by  Judge  Bond — 
poetry  and  prose  have  beguiled  the  hours — Congressman  Russell 
has  advanced  the  frontier  of  these  United  States  to  its  proper  posi- 
tion— and  Brother  Brown  has  told  us  how  the  old  lawyer  induced 
him  to  prevent  a  clandestine  marriage,  by  holding  a  prayer-meeting, 
publishing  the  bans  and  marrying  the  couple  in  orthodox  fashion — 
the  chorus  have  given  us  splendid  music,  and  Reeves'  famous  band, 
only  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  have  opened  the  gates  of  heaven 
■and  given  us  a  foretaste  of  celestial  music. 

My  residence  in  this  town  covers  a  period  of  twelve  years,  and 
I  shall  always  look  back  upon  those  years,  and  their  varied  ex- 
periences, with  the  greatest  pleasure.  Some  of  the  best  friends  I 
have  ever  had  lived  and  now  live  in  this  town. 

What  is  the  thought  of  the  hour?  Poor,  indeed,  is  that  people 
who  have  no  memorial  days.  Birthdays  of  towns,  as  well  as  birth- 
days of  individuals,  are  honored,  because  of  the  goodness  of  the 
life.  Washington's  natal  day  will  be  increasingly  honored  centuries 
after  he  is  gathered  to  his  fathers.  Nobody  knows  or  cares  when 
Benedict  Arnold  was  born  or  when  he  was  buried. 

Christmas  will  never  cease  to  bring  joy  and  kindliness  to  the 
world  as  the  birthday  of  the  Divine  man.  We  don't  hear  much  of 
the  celebration  of  the  birthday  of  Judas  or  Pilate. 

This  town  was  founded  on  the  church  and  school-house.  The 
first  vote  or  one  of  the  first  votes  ol  the  town  was  to  hire  a  minister 
■and  the  churches  and  school-houses  have  stood  together,  witnesses 
of  the  devotion  and  intelligence  of  this  people  from  that  day  to  this. 
You  have  as  a  town  a  noble  record  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
and  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  and  in  the  late  war.  Patriotic  on  all 
■occasions. 

The  record  of  the  past  is  made  up.  The  books  are  closed. 
Two  centuries  is  a  long  period,  and  the  years  are  full  of  events  of 
.great  interest.  To-day  is  not  like  other  days.  None  of  us  will  be 
quite  the  same  to-morrow  as  we  are  now.     These  celebrations  are 


ADDRESS    BY    HON.    E.    M.    WARNER.  75 

times  of  reckoning.     Every  anniversary  is  a  slice  of  the  day  of 
judgment.     What  will  posterity  say  of  us  200  years  from  now? 

The  old  frontiersman  of  early  Plainfield  knew  how  to  fight  and 
was  eager  for  the  fray.  You  have  heard  from  our  honored  gover- 
nor, of  the  power  and  grandeur  of  towns ;  the  majesty  of  the  people 
exercising  governmental  rights  in  town  meeting  assembled.  Well, 
how  is  it?  Do  you  send  men  to  Hartford,  who  know  their  duty  and 
can  do  it,  or  are  they  wheedled  and  managed  by  the  experienced 
member  who  has  been  there  before?  Just  so  long  as  the  country 
towns  send  men  to  Hartford,  simply  because  their  section  or  district 
of  the  town  thinks  it  is  their  "turn,"  without  regard  to  personal 
qualification  of  the  candidate,  just  so  long  will  the  country  town 
fail  to  have  its  proper  influence  in  the  Legislature. 

In  the  matter  of  improved  roads  I  know  you  are  in  the  front 
rank.  I  doubt  if  there  is  another  town  in  the  county  with  as  fine 
roads  as  you  have,  and  I  know  your  schools  are  equal  to  the  best. 
There  is  another  matter.  My  wife  tells  me  I'm  not  here  to  lay  down 
the  law,  but  to  praise  you.  Probably  she  is  right.  She  usually  is. 
But  I  must  say  to  you  that  of  all  the  questions  which  will  demand 
your  attention  none  begins  to  be  of  the  personal  importance,  to  you 
and  your  homes,  of  the  "Drink"  question.  You  have,  however, 
always  kept  the  town  on  the  no  license  side,  and  I  predict  you  will 
not  change  the  record  this  year. 

Early  Plainfield  maintained  itself  by  the  integrity  and  courage 
of  the  individual  citizen.  Do  as  they  did.  "Think  and  decide  for 
yourself."  So  shall  the  future  be  secure.  I  will  not  detain  you 
further,  for  I  know  you  are  eager  to  hear  the  next  "orator  of  the 
day,"  and  I  will  say,  with  due  deference  to  all,  who  have  preceded 
me,  and  also  to  myself,  you  will  now  be  permitted  to  listen  to  the 
best  speech  of  the  day. 


76  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

ADDRESS. 


Rev.  C.  H.  Spalding,  D.  D. 


Two  hundred  years  is  a  very  respectable  bit  of  history.  Eight 
generations  ago  one  of  my  ancestors  was  active  in  beginning  the- 
history  we  are  this  day  celebrating.  No^  town  in  the  wide  world 
wears  such  a  halo  around  it,  to  me,  as  "Beautiful  Plainfield."  The 
scenes  of  my  childhood  are  among  the  most  beautiful  pictures  ever 
hung  in  the  chambers  of  memory.  The  over-arching  elms  ol  this 
street  always  impressed  my  fancy  like  a  vast  cathedral,  and  with  as 
great  sacredness,  too.  How  naturally  we  are  all  affected  by  the- 
institutions  and  personages  which  gave  tone  and  shape  to-  our 
earliest  ideas :  often  these  are  the  mould  in  which  our  whole  life 
is  run. 

When  I  read  Hood's  striking  couplet, 

"I  am  farther  away  from  Heaven  new 
Than  -when  I  was  a  boy," 

I  think  of  my  days  of  play  and  pleasure  here.     But  I  have  no- 
sympathy  with  that  other  lamentation, 

"I  remember,  I  remember  the  house  where  I  was  born, 
The  window  where  the  sun  came  creeping  in  at  morn. 
It  did  not  come  a  wink  too  soon,  nor  bring-  too  long  a  day. 
But  now  I  often  wish  the  night  had  borne  my  breath  away." 

I  did  not  look  at  Westminster  Abbey  with  a  greater  reverence- 
than  I  always  look  at  this  old  stone  church.  Its  old  interior  with, 
the  high  pulpit  to  which  the  minister  ascended  by  circular  stairs, 
with  the  square,  high-backed  pews,  is  a  thing  of  tender  recollection 
to  me.  Very  few  of  the  congregations  of  that  time  are  among  the 
living  to  enter  its  portals  now.  I  stand  at  this  parting  of  the  ways,, 
and  the  song  of  the  "Ferryman"  comes  to-  me. 

"Take,  O  boatman,  thrice  thy  fee, 

For  spirits  twain  have  crossed  with  me." 

Plainfield  may  have  no  tradition  like  the  "Frogs  of  Windham,"" 
no  fascinating  story  like  "Putnam  and  the  wolf  den,"  but  it  has  its 


ADDRESS    I!Y    REV.    C.    H.    SPALDING,    D.    D.  77 

unwritten  idyls  of  noble  men  and  women  in  all  the  walks  of  life. 
In  the  autobiography  of  Dr.  John  G.  Paton,  the  great  missionary, 
he  says,  "The  only  aristocracy  worth  anything  is  the  aristocracy 
of  brains  and  character.  The  people  of  my  village  were  keen  de- 
baters in  all  matters  of  church  and  state.  On  the  way  to  the  smithy 
or  to  the  kiln,  in  knots  on  the  green,  and  coming  from  the  kirk, 
the  great  questions  which  were  shaking  the  outside  world  were 
fought  over  again  with  amazing  passion  and  a  bright  intelligence." 
When  I  read  that  sentence,  O  what  a  burst  of  memory  rolled  in 
upon  me,  a  memory  of  dear  old  Plainfield ! 

The  first  political  shibboleth  I  ever  remember  was  "Tippe- 
canoe and  Tyler,  Too!"  The  old  Plainfield  Glee  Club,  with  Harry 
Wilson  as  a  leader,  has  sung  more  politics  into  my  life  than  has 
come  into  it  through  all  the  open  avenues  of  later  years.  To  my 
■childish  fancy  this  was  the  town  which  made  and  unmade  presidents. 
I  used  to  imagine  that  Windham  County  was  the  arch  upon  which 
rested  the  fabric  of  the  republic,  and  the  keystone  in  that  arch  was 
Plainfield.  Celia  Thaxter  says  she  used  to  look  out  from  her  light- 
house home  on  Appledore  Island  and  see  the  main  land,  and  ask 
her  little  brother  if  he  "supposed  the  land  so  near  them  was  as  big 
as  Appledore."  I  am  looking  at  Plainfield  to-day  through  the 
-eyes  of  childhood,  and  instead  of  making  me  feel  less  like  a  man 
it  makes  me  feel  more  like  a  man.  The  orator  of  the  day,  who  was 
my  schoolmate  in  the  academy  and  whom  it  is  my  pleasure  to^  greet 
in  Boston  day  by  day.  Judge  Bond,  who  has  so  faithfully  drawn 
the  picture  of  our  earlier  history,  knows  well  whereof  he  speaks 
in  the  personages  he  cites  and  the  principles  for  which  they  stood. 
Prof.  George  Shepard,  D.  D.,  for  so  many  years  the  president  of 
Bangor  Theological  Seminary,  has  left  his  exalted  and  enduring 
impression  upon  the  religious  thought  of  the  century  just  closing. 
It  was  a  pride  to  his  townspeople  to  have  him  come  home  occasional- 
ly and  preach  in  the  old  church.  In  literature  the  name  of  William 
H.  Burleigh  is  written  on  the  scroll  of  eminence.  In  the  heroic 
chapter  of  anti-slavery  reform,  whose  annals  are  sO'  brilliant  with 
notable  achievements,  no  two  figures  stand  out  with  more  unique 
and  conspicuous  purpose  and  power  than  our  own  Charles  and 


78  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL, 

George  Burleigh.  We  felt  the  tingle  of  just  pride  in  our  veins 
when  Connecticut  made  Hon.  David  Gallup  Lieut.  Governor,  who 
dignified  his  official  life  with  rare  good  sense  and  practical  virtues.. 

It  was  my  pleasure  a  year  ago  to  be  passing  a  quiet  Sunday 
at  Baden-Baden.  At  our  hotel  was  a  group  of  people,  and  one  of 
the  ladies,  I  was  told,  was  the  wife  of  our  United  States  Consul  at 
Amsterdam.  Before  the  day  closed  I  was  introduced  to  her,  and. 
it  was  our  mutual  pleasure  to  find  that  we  were  both  from  Plainfield, 
and  that  her  husband  was  G.  I.  Corey,  a  boy  of  this  town.  Thus, 
strange  and  happy  are  the  coincidences  of  foreign  travel ! 

Rev.  Andrew  Dunning  was  the  first  minister  I  remember,  and 
his  beautiful  bearing  and  pulpit  attitude  are  an  ineffaceable  portrait 
on  my  heart.  To  my  teacher,  Lucian  Burleigh,  I  owe  a  debt  of 
gratitude  which  I  should  be  recreant  not  to  pay  this  day.  When 
I  read  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps'  charming  book,  "The  Madonna  of 
the  Tubs,"  I  thought  of  old  Aunt  Pendar,  the  quiet  and  faithful, 
the  patient  and  gentle  negro  washerwoman  and  nurse,  whose  house 
was  on  the  lonely  hillside  tO'  the  northeast  of  our  village,  and  among 
others  of  notability  and  renown,  it  does  my  heart  good  to  mention 
her,  and  I  know  some  of  you  will  say.  Amen.  I  could  not  miss 
this  day.  It  will  sanctify  the  shorter  period  of  my  pilgrimage  yet 
to  run.  I  stand  with  you  trembling  between  the  "Pleasures  of 
Memory"  and  the  "Pleasures  of  Hope." 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BY    REV.    S.    H.    FELLOWS.  79, 

AGRICULTURAL,  INDUSTRIAL  AND  EDUCATIONAL 

INTERESTS  OF  PLAINFIELD— A  GLIMPSE 

AT  THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 


Rev.  S.  H.  Fellows. 


Agricultural. 

It  is  difficult  at  this  day  to  determine  what  could  have  attracted 
the  early  settlers  of  Plainfield.  They  could  not  have  considered  it 
an  El  Dorado  for  farming.  Its  surface  is  diversified  with  stones, 
swamps  and  sand,  though  there  is  some  good  land  along  the  margin 
of  its  streams. 

The  plains — from  which  probably  the  township  took  its  name — 
being  less  heavily  wooded  than  the  more  elevated  portions,  might 
have  seemed  to  offer  the  quickest  returns  for  their  labor.  The 
early  settlers  were  men  who  were  not  afraid  of  work,  and  they  ex- 
pected tO'  wring  their  support  from  the  sod  "in  the  sweat  of  their 
face." 

After  providing  a  temporary  shelter  for  their  families,  they 
bent  all  their  energies  to  securing  a  crop  of  corn  for  which  this, 
section  was  famous  under  Indian  cultivation. 

They  well  knew  that  they  must  depend  almost  wholly  upon 
themselves  for  their  support,  for  there  were  no  markets  within 
reach  and  no  money  with  which  to  buy.  With  such  rude  imple- 
ments as  they  brought  with  them,  such  as  the  axe  and  hoe,  the  plow 
and  scythe,  they  must  raise  their  own  provisions,  make  their  own 
clothes,  and  live  as  best  they  could  upon  what  was  within  their  reach. 

Life  in  such  a  new  country  is  a  struggle  for  existence,  and 
under  such  conditions  we  can  well  believe  in  the  theory  of  "the 
survival  of  the  strongest."  Few  grew  rich  among  them,  yet  there 
were  none  who  expected  to  live  on  the  hard  earned  pittance  of 
their  neighbors.  To-day  one  of  the  foremost  granges  of  Connecti- 
cut, is  that  of  Plainfield,  No.  140,  instituted  February  16,  1894. 
Its  charter  member  list  comprised  51  names,  which  has  been  grad- 
ually increased. 

The  farmers  earlv  turned  their  attention  to  wool  growing  and 


So  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL, 

stock  raising'  as  affording  an  easier  way  of  getting  a  living  than 
by  the  cultivation  of  the  sod.  There  were  no  markets  and  so  little 
inducement  to  raise  more  than  sufficient  for  the  support  of  their 
own  families. 

Roads  were  but  tracks  from  one  point  to  another,  bridges  were 
unknown,  and  it  was  not  always  possible  to  ford  the  streams. 

The  spirit  of  emigration  if  not  of  adventure,  possessed  these 
€arly  settlers,  and  they  sooii  began  to-  seek  homes  in  the  southern 
and  western  parts  of  the  state;  in  Vermont,  and  especially  in  far 
distant  New  York,  reports  of  whose  rich  land  had  reached  their 
•ears. 

It  was  thought  possible  at  one  time  to  make  the  Quinebaug 
River  navigable  from  Danielson's  falls  to  Norwich,  and  the  General 
Assembly  was  petitioned  for  authority  to  operate  a  lottery  to^  raise 
the  necessary  funds ;  but  the  request  was  not  granted  and  the  scheme 
was  abandoned. 

Industrial. 

In  1768  a  weekly  stage  coach  was  run  from  Providence  to 
Norwich  through  this  town,  and  a  house  for  the  accommodation  of 
travelers  was  built  upon  the  green,  and  communication  with  the 
outside  world  stimulated  a  spirit  of  enterprise  and  improvement. 

Stores  were  opened  in  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  and  an 
apothecary's  shop ;  also  a  hat  manufactory  was  started,  a  post  office 
was  secured,  the  third  in  Windham  County.  iFishing  in  the  Quine- 
baug was  protected  by  town  enactment,  which  prevented  the  use  of 
the  water  privileges,  but  this  restriction  was  afterward  removed. 

Small  mills  for  grinding  corn  and  sawing  lumber  were  early 
built,  but  for  years  the  extensive  water  power  of  the  town  was 
unused. 

Early  in  this  century  small  manufacturing  interests  began  to 
develop,  and  from  this  change  in  the  business  of  the  town,  dates 
its  rapid  and  healthy  growth  and  prosperity. 

About  1807  several  manufacturing  companies  embarked  in  the 
work  of  cotton  spinning  thus  utilizing  the  power  of  its  streams. 

The  American  Cotton  Manufacturing  Company  composed  of 
Thomas  Rhodes,  of  Providence,  and  others  living  out  of  town, 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BY    REV.    S.    H.    FELLOWS,  8l 

secured  a  "privilege"  on  Quandank  River.  The  Plainfield  Union 
Manufacturing-  Company  was  organized  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
on  the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  bought  valuable  privileges  and 
land  in  Moosup. 

This  company  was  composed  of  men  in  Providence,  Newport. 
Plainfield  and  Sterling,  and  commenced  work  in  1809,  and  others 
soon  after. 

The  Andrus  factory  began  operations  in  1811,  at  Packersville. 

Woolen  factories  were  set  in  operation,  and  carding  machirtes 
and  fulling  mills  were  run  in  Kennedy  Village. 

The  War  of  181 2  caused  much  depression  in  business,  and 
several  companies  were  obliged  to  suspend  operations. 

The  Central  Manufacturing  Company  in  1827,  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Richard  and  Arnold  Fenner  and  Holden  Borden. 

In  1826  the  woolen  manufactory  oi  Joseph  Eaton  fell  into  the 
hands  of  a  Rhode  Island  Quaker,  Wm.  Almy,  and  a  new  factory 
building  with  improved  machinery  was  built  and  soon  one  of  the 
largest  woolen  manufactories  of  Connecticut  was  under  full  headway. 

Joseph  Gladding  started  another  factory  soon  after  on  Moosup 
river,  which  with  enlargement  and  improvements  has  for  many 
years  been  owned  and  run  for  the  manufacture  of  thread,  by  Floyd 
Cranska. 

The  original  of  the  Union  mills  in  Moosup.  which  was  for 
many  years  a  carding  factory,  was  built  about  1805  and  afterward 
enlarged  twice. 

This  mill  continued  w^ith  varying  success  till  about  1875,  when 
it  was  bought  by  D.  L.  Aldrich  and  S.  G.  Gray,  who  commenced 
operations  in  1879.  Additions  were  made  in  1880,  1881  and  1882. 
In  1883  the  old  mill  was  torn  down  and  a  new  one  built,  and  within 
the  last  few  years,  under  the  control  of  the  Aldrich  Brothers,  ex- 
tensive additions  have  been  made,  till  at  present  it  is  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  prosperous  cotton  manufactories  of  the  town. 

The  old  w^ooden  mill  of  the  Central  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  Central  Village,  was  built  about  1790,  and  a  grist  mill  about  the 
same  time ;  these  have  only  recently  been  torn  down. 
6 


82  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Allen  Harris  and  Arnold  Fenner  build  the  upper  brick  mill  in 
1828,  and  the  lower  one  in  1845. 

In  1 881  this  property  was  bought  by  J.  Leavens'  sons,  who  gave 
it  the  name  of  the  Kirk  mills.  For  the  last  two  years  the  ma- 
chinery has  been  idle. 

In  1856  a  woolen  mill  was  built  in  what  was  known  as  Almy- 
ville,  and  was  run  till  it  was  burned  in  1875.  The  property  was. 
bought  by  Aldrich  &  Milner,  and  a  stone  mill  was  built  which  has 
received  several  additions.  Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Aldrich  the 
property  has  been  controlled  by  Mr.  Milner,  and  in  1891  the  Glen 
Falls  worsted  mill  was  built  for  the  manufacture  of  the  finest 
worsted  yarns. 

The  property  has  within  a  few  months  passed  into  the  control 
of  a  syndicate. 

About  1850  Mr.  A.  D.  Lockwood  bought  a  privilege  on  the 
Quinebaug  river  near  the  Brooklyn  bridge  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  the  town,  and  in  1853  3.  company  was  formed,  which  obtained 
a  charter  from  the  Legislature  under  the  corporate  name  of 
"Wauregan  Mills,"  taking  the  old  Indian  name,  which  means 
"Pleasant  Valley."' 

In  1853  3^d  1854  a  dam  was  thrown  across  the  river,  a  build- 
ing 250  feet  in  length  was  erected,  and  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
cloth  was  commenced.     In  1858  the  length  of  the  mill  was  doubled. 

In  1868  and  1869  another  building  500  feet  in  length  was  built 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  ditch,  and  the  two  connected  in  the 
middle  by  a  building  250  feet  in  length,  making  a  total  length  of 
1,250  feet,  four  and  five  stories  in  height.  This  mill  was  for  a  time 
one  of  the  largest  manufactories  in  Connecticut.  Except  for  a  few 
days  at  a  time  to  make  needed  repairs,  this  mill  has  been  con- 
tinuously in  active  operation. 

It  was  under  the  management  of  Mr.  J.  S.  Atwood  from  its. 
beginning  till  his  death  in  1885;  since  that  time,  under  that  of  his 
sons,  J.  A.  &  J.  W.  Atwood. 

The  first  number  of  the  Plainfield  Journal  appeared  September 
3,  1881,  as  a  six-column  folio,  published  by  Charles  F.  Burgess, 
The  plant  has  prospered,  and  the  paper,  now  comprising  ten  pages» 


HISTORICAL    PAPER   BY    REV.    S.    H.    FELLOWS.  83 

has  grown  steadily  in  circulation  and  influence,  and  is  published 
from  the  Masonic  building,  Moosup.  A  beautiful  souvenir  volume 
of  the  tOAvn  of  Plainfield  was  issued  from  the  Journal  office  in  1895, 
comprising  historical,  descriptive  and  biographical  sketches,  and 
nearly  two  hundred  fine  illustrations,  making  a  book  of  great  value 
and  one  that  will  long  be  highly  prized. 


Educational. 

Early  in  the  history  of  the  town  the  attention  of  the  people  was 
turned  to  the  matter  of  education.  In  1707  public  provision  was 
made  for  the  instruction  of  the  children,  when  it  was  ordered,  "That 
part  of  the  country  land  be  allowed  for  the  encouragement  of  a 
school,"  and  Lorin  Williams,  Joseph  Spaulding  and  (Dea.)  William 
Douglas  were  directed  "to  take  care  that  there  be  one." 

A  year  later  the  town  voted  "to  send  to  Mr.  James  Deane  to 
come  and  be  their  school-master,"  and  he  agreed  to  undertake  it 
for  six  months,  for  what  he  could  make  out  of  it.  He  did  not 
probably  find  it  a  very  lucrative  position. 

In  1716  John  W^atson  was  "improved,"  tO'  keep  school,  what- 
ever that  might  mean,  and  the  deacons  and  selectmen  were  tO'  order 
the  school  and  receive  the  money. 

It  was  next  ordered  that  a  school  should  be  kept  in  three 
places  ;  that  a  place  be  provided  for  the  school-master  to  be  quartered 
at,  and  a  house  suitable  for  the  school ;  the  expense  to  be  borne  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  section ;  the  same  school-master  to  go  from 
one  place  to  another. 

In  1 71 7  and  1718  several  persons  in  the  middle  of  the  town 
employed  John  Stoyell  tO'  instruct  their  children  for  a  year,  and 
the  town  made  this  a  public  school,  and  ordered  the  school  money 
to  be  delivered  to  these  persons,  and  that  each  child  should  be 
charged  four  pence  a  week  besides. 

In  1719  Henry  Wake  was  school-master,  receiving  for  his  serv- 
ices his  "diet"  and  five  pounds. 

In  1 72 1  Mr.  Walton  was  employed  to  maintain  perambulatory 


84  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

schools,  in  the  different  neighborhoods,  the  town  paying  him  twelve 
pounds,  finding  board  and  keeping  a  horse  for  him. 

In  1720  the  town  was  divided  into  school  districts,  north  and 
south  of  the  meeting-house,  each  to  order  its  own  schools.  In 
1722  the  first  school-house  w-as  ordered  built  forty  or  fifty  rods 
from  the  meeting-house,  and  in  1725  two  others  were  ordered  built. 

In  1740  ten  shillings  a  week  was  deemed  a  reasonable  recom- 
pense for  the  master's  "diet"  and  horse  keeping. 

In  1769  a  committee  was  appointed  to  lay  out  school  districts, 
and  the  town  was  divided  into  ten  districts. 

The  people  w^ere  not  yet  satisfied  with  the  opportunities  which 
their  children  enjoyed;  and  in  1770  an  association  was  formed  "For 
the  purpose  of  providing  improved  facilities  for  the  more  complete 
education  of  the  youth  of  the  vicinity." 

They  erected  a  brick  building,  procured  teachers  of  a  higher 
grade,  and  established  a  more  thorough  system  of  instruction  in 
common  English  branches,  but  were  unable  to  organize  a  classical 
department. 

A  legacy  being  left  them  by  Isaac  Coit,  Esq.,  the  interest  of 
which  was  to  be  applied  for  the  maintenance  of  a  Latin  or  grammar 
school,  in  1778  a  classical  department  was  organized  and  Mr, 
Ebenezer  Pemberton  of  Newport,  a  gentleman  of  high  scholarship 
and  accomplishments,  was  employed  as  teacher.  His  reputation 
and  the  favorable  location  of  the  school  in  those  troublous  times, 
attracted  a  large  number  of  pupils  from  other  places,  even  from 
Providence,  New  London  and  New  York. 

In  1784  "the  trustees  of  the  Academick  school  in  Plainfield," 
were  incorporated  and  for  more  than  half  a  century  this  academy 
maintained  its  place  at  the  fore-front  of  the  academies  of  New 
England,  and  until  the  advent  of  high  schools  in  many  places 
caused  it  to  decline. 

Many  men  of  national  reputation  who  have  held  high  places  in 
church  and  state,  received  their  preparation  for  college  in  this  old 
academy,  and  a  still  larger  number  of  teachers  were  here  fitted  for 
their  responsible  positions. 

Plainfield  academy  was  the  third  incorporated  school  in  Con- 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BY    REV.    S.    H.    FELLOWS.  85 

necticiit.  The  first  two  were  Union  in  New  London,  and  Staples 
in  Weston. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  by-laws  of  the  academy,  which 
in  these  days  would  be  called  tyrannical : 

"That  no  scholar  shall  go  to  the  tavern  for  purpose  of  enter- 
tainment without  leave  from  his  father,  guardian  or  rector. 

"No  scholar  from  abroad  and  boarding  in  any  family,  shall 
remove  to  any  other  family  unless  so  directed  by  his  or  her 
parents,  or  guardian,  or  with  liberty  from  the  rector. 

"No  scholar  shall  keep  a  gun,  or  go  on  a  shooting  party,  or 
ride  out,  or  leave  town,  or  absent  himself  from  the  school  without 
leave  from  the  rector. 

"No  scholar  shall  purchase  anything  at  any  store  on  credit, 
without  a  written  order  from  parent,  or  guardian,  or  leave  from 
the  rector. 

"No  scholar  shall  appear  in  the  academy,  or  in  public,  in  ex- 
travagant, slovenly,  or  indecent  dress. 

"No  immoral,  indecent,  or  profane  language,  or  improper  con- 
duct, shall  be  allowed  in  any  scholar,  at  any  time;  but  all  such 
breaches  of  good  morals  shall  be  exemplarily  punished. 

"No-  scholar  shall  be  allowed  tO'  stroll  the  street,  or  fields  on 
Sunday,  but  it  shall  be  required  of  everyone  to  attend  on  public 
worship,  and  tO'  behave  with  becoming  dignity  and  propriety. 

"No  member  of  the  academy  shall  attend  a  dancing  school  in 
the  town  during-  the  time  he  is  a  member  of  the  academy." 

There  were  no  changes  in  the  boundaries  of  the  twelve  districts 
into  which  the  town  was  divided  for  a  number  of  years ;  the  out- 
lying districts  decreasing  in  the  number  of  scholars,  while  the  num- 
ber at  the  centers  increased. 

The  first  union  of  districts  was  that  of  Central  Village  and 
Kennedy,  approved  by  the  board  November  26,  1873. 

April  10,  1881,  the  board  approved  the  plan  of  the  school-house 
in  Moosup,  a  district  formed  by  the  consolidation  of  Almyville, 
Moosup  (or  Union)  and  Goshen. 

Plainfield  has  always  been  liberal  in  the  appropriation  of  money 
for  the  education  of  her  children,  and  her  schools  have  compared 


86  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

favorably  with  those  of  other  towns  having-  a   similar   grade   of 
scholars. 

A  vote  for  the  town  management  of  schools  was  carried  at  the 
last  annual  town  meeting  in  October,  1898,  and  the  town  will  com- 
mence her  third  century  abreast  of  the  times,  prepared  not  only 
to  sustain  her  reputation,  but  to  keep  pace  with  modern  ideas 
for  the  best  practical  education  of  all  the  children  within  her 
borders. 


SKETCH  OF  MEMBERS  OF  THE  BAR  AND  OF  THE 

MEDICAL  PROFESSION,  WITH  LISTS  OF 

SOME  ELECTED  OFFICERS. 


James  L.  Gardner,  M.  D. 


Great  changes  have  come  to  the  former  lands  of  the  Nipmuck 
Indians,  Gov.  John  Winthrop  bought  two-  hundred  fifty  years  ago 
of  Allumps  and  Massashowett,  and  which  twenty-five  or  thirty  years 
after,  Owaneco,  the  Mohegan,  sold  to  Capt.  James  Fitch.  And 
meantime  great  strides  of  progress  have  been  made  in  the  medical 
profession  and  in  the  legal.  The  narrow  Indian  trail  is  no  more 
followed,  but  the  macadam  road  has  taken  its  place ;  for  the  pony 
express  and  the  sailing  packet,  the  lawyer  and  the  doctor,  now  have 
the  fast  mail,  the  telephone,  and  even  wireless  telegraphy. 

The  old-time  doctor  was  a  potent  factor  in  making  this  part 
of  the  country  what  it  is  to-day.  He  stood  with  the  lawyer  and  the 
statesman  for  freedom  and  liberty,  always  at  his  post  of  duty  in  war 
and  in  peace,  ready  to  relieve  human  suffering  and  prolong  human 
life.  On  battle-field  and  ship,  Plainfield  has  ever  been  represented 
with  ability  by  her  surgeons.  When  the  river  too  ran  high  it  was 
Dr.  Joseph  Williams  and  Judge  Timothy  Pierce  who  petitioned  the 
assembly,  May  9,  1728,  for  a  bridge  over  the  Quinebaug.  This, 
however,  did  not  prevent  the  drowning  of  Nathaniel  Kinne  in  the 
flood  of  1807,  when  the  ferryboat,  still  running,  was  swamped  there. 
The  doctors  were  busy  in  those  early  years;  for  about  1728  a  dis- 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BV    JAMES    L.    GARDNER,    M.    D.  87 

tressing  sickness  came  upon  the  people  of  the  town  with  great 
mortahty.  Twenty  persons  died  in  a  few  months.  The  Indians 
too  were  dying  off,  partly  from  bad  habits  and  partly  from  the  efifect 
of  the  white  man's  fire-water.  Owaneco-  himself  followed  his 
cups  closely  and  died  in  1715. 

Dr.  Joseph  Williams,  one  of  the  early  doctors  of  Plainfield, 
died  in  1752.  He  owned  real  estate  and  his  will  was  probated  that 
year  before  Judge  Avery. 

Dr.  James  Girauld,  of  Central  Village,  affirms,  in  1769,  to  the 
miraculous  cure,  through  faith  and  prayer,  of  Mercy  Wheeler,  who 
had  been  a  sufiferer  from  nervous  prostration  for  many  months. 

During  the  revolution  the  sick  and  wounded  were  sent  home 
and  cared  for  by  physicians  and  kind  women  who  volunteered  as 
nurses.  The  town  did  nobly,  though  its  population  in  1775  was 
only — whites,  1,479;  blacks,  83;  the  grand  list  being  £14,216  i6s. 
Dr.  Josiah  Fuller  was  surgeon  of  the  cavalry  regiment.  Drs.  Adams 
and  Lord  enlisted  as  surgeons.  In  Col.  Arnold's  regiment  we  find 
Dr.  John  Spalding  as  surgeon  with  Rev.  John  Fuller  as  chaplain, 
his  successor  in  the  First  Church  in  Plainfield,  Rev.  Joel  Benedict, 
D.D., being  chaplain  of  the  Twenty-first  regiment ;  and  in  the  Eighth 
infantry  with  Lieut.  Douglass  (afterwards  General  Douglass),  we 
find  Dr.  Elisha  Perkins  as  surgeon.  Dr.  Perkins  was  a  most  es- 
teemed physician.  He  was  one  of  the  first  trustees  of  Plainfield 
Academy.  His  electric  tractors  spread  his  fame  throughout  the 
world.  They  were  at  first  a  success  and  thousands  were  sold.'  He 
discovered  an  anti-septic  preparation  for  the  prevention  of  disease, 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Merwin,  having  died  of  yellow  fever  at  Phila- 
delphia. He  went  toi  New  York  to  test  his  preventative  medicine 
and  for  four  weeks  faithfully  nursed  the  fever  stricken  patients,  but 
fell  a  martyr  tO'  his  convictions  and  in  the  cause  of  humanity.  He 
died  in  New  York  in  1799.  Dr.  Perkins  was  undoubtedly  one  of 
the  first  to  experiment  with  yellow  fever  preventatives.  Alone  and 
single  handed  he  thought  out  the  problem,  the  same  that  army  sur- 
geons and  bacteriological  students  are  now  struggling  with  a  century 
later,  and  struck  the  keynote  of  germ  theories  and  modern  aseptics. 
Connecticut  and  New  York  can  both  deservedly  pay  homage  tO'  his 


88  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

name.  When  there  was  an  opportunity  to*  give  a  number  of  Quaker 
children  a  higher  education,  Dr.  Rowland  Green  assisted  by  his 
brother,  Dr.  Benjamin  Green,  opened  a  school  on  Black  Hill. 
Among  the  graduates  from  this  institution  of  learning  were  Susan 
Anthony,  Phebe  Jackson,  Samuel  S.  Toby,  and  Elisha  Dyer  who 
became  governor  of  Rhode  Island.  The  physicians  were  of  help  in 
other  ways.  In  1775  Samurf"  Fiitnam  wrote  Governor  Trumbull, 
"another  cargo  of  tea,  nothing  but  a  non-consumption  agreement 
can  save  America."  The  tea  tax  and  other  hardships  inflicted  by 
the  Crown  put  the  colonists  in  no  friendly  mood  towards  Great 
Britain.  Tea  was  a  contraband  article  with  the  patriots,  and  so 
when  Betsey  Devotion,  daughter  of  Rev.  James  Cogswell,  D.  D.,  of 
Scotland,  in  the  Quinebaug  Country,  died  with  fever,  and  the 
parents  worn  with  watching  and  nursing,  were  advised  to  take  a  cup 
of  tea  as  "a  soothing  stimulus,"  they  did  so  to-  their  peril.  Many 
tories  had  already  been  treated  to  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers  for 
selling  tea  and  for  similar  deeds.  Mr.  Cogswell  disavowed  any 
allegiance  to-  the  Crown  and  asserted  his  sympathy  with  the  sons  of 
freedom,  and  the  physicians  certified  that  the  tea  was  "taken  as  a 
medical  prescription."  This  saved  him.  though  some  women  re- 
quired a  confession  and  apology  from  the  pulpit  and  threatened  to 
print  his  misdemeanor  in  the  Norwich  Packet  and  New  London 
Ga::ette. 

Dr.  Josiah  Fuller  had  an  extensive  practice  in  Plainfield,  about 
1811.  He  and  John  Lester  owned  and  profited  by  herding  large 
flocks  of  sheep  in  Plainfield. 

Dr.  Pierce  practiced  medicine  in  Plainfield  about  1826.  He 
afterwards  moved  to  Westerly,  R.  I. 

Dr.  Morey  Burgess  was  a  prominent  physician  in  Moosup 
from  1816  toi  1856.  His  two  sons,  Horace  and  Frank,  both  studied 
for  the  medical  profession  and  became  practitioners. 

Dr.  William  Henry  Cogswell  had  an  extensive  practice  in  Plain- 
field  for  about  fifty  years.  He  was  born  in  Griswold,  December  3, 
1798.  Educated  at  Plainfield  Academy,  he  taught  a  few  years,  and 
then  studied  for  his  profession  with  Dr.  Josiah  Fuller  and  at  New 
Haven,  where  he  graduated  in   1823  as  doctor  of  medicine.     He 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BY    JAMES    L.    GARDNER,    M.    D.  89 

became  president  of  the  Medical  Association  of  Connecticut  and 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  M.  V.  at  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane  at 
Hartford.  He  rendered  valuable  professional  aid  to  the  federal 
government  in  the  Civil  War.     He  died  November  22.  1876. 

Dr.  William  A.  Lewis,  born  in  West  Greenwich,  R.  I.,  August 
25,  1829,  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Nathan  S.  Pike,  of  Sterlings 
Hill,  and  took  lectures  at  the  Harvard  medical  school,  where  he 
graduated  in  185 1.  After  practicing  in  Sterling,  he  came  to  this 
town  in  1862  and  practiced  in  Moosup  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
April  20,  1895. 

Dr.  Horace  E.  Balcom,  of  Windham,  Ct..  came  to  Plainfield 
about  1870,  and  was  in  practice  with  Dr.  Burgess  for  a  few  years. 
He  then  went  to  Central  Village  where  he  opened  an  office  in  the 
brick  house  now  used  as  a  parsonage.  He  was  surgeon  of  a  Con- 
necticut regiment  in  the  Civil  War.     He  died  at  the  age  of  42  years. 

Dr.  Charles  Henry  Rogers,  born  in  Pomfret,  Ct.,  February 
6.  1818,  was  the  oldest  medical  practitioner  in  Plainfield  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  May  23,  1897.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  1840, 
graduated  in  1844,  and  took  his  medical  degree  from  Yale,  in  1847. 
He  began  practice  in  West  Woodstock,  and  came  to  Central  Village 
in  1856.  He  volunteered  as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  army  in  1861, 
but  because  of  failing  health  remained  in  service  but  one  year.  On 
his  return  home  he  resumed  practice  in  Central  Village. 

The  Windham  County  medical  society  met  in  Canterbury,. 
October  i,  1786.  Dr.  Waldo  of  Pomfret,  was  clerk,  the  same  who 
spoke  at  the  funeral  of  General  Putnam  and  eulogized  the  patriot. 
Semi-annual  meetings  wxre  continued  till  1791,  when  the  county 
society  was  formally  organized.  The  State  medical  society  was 
instituted  in  1792. 

The  following  physicians  are  at  present  practicing  in  Plainfield  : 
W.  W.  Adams,  Charles  N.  Allen,  Emery  H.  Davis,  A.  Fontaine, 
James  L.  Gardner,  Samuel  P.  Ladd. 

The  following  dentists  are  in  town :  H.  Dryhurst,  M.  S. 
Nichols,  Dwight  Tracy. 

The  druggists  are  C.  H.  Lewis,  Dr.  William  H.  Sargent,  J.  W.. 
Tuckerman. 


9°  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Among-  the  earlier  students  at  Plainfielcl  Academy  were  Rev. 
Parker  Adams,  Capt.  Francis  Allen,  Rev.  Jason  Allen,  Hon. 
Sylvanus  Backus,  Hon.  E.  A.  Bradford,  LL.  D.,  Nicholas  Brown, 
Rinaldo  Burleigh,  Judge  John  P.  Cushman,  Hon.  Nathan  F.  Dixon, 
U.  S.  S.,  Hon.  Joseph  Eaton,  Adam  Frink,  Gov.  James  Hamilton, 
Judge  Samuel  Hubbard,  LL.  D.,  Gen.  Jedidiah  Johnson,  Prof. 
James  L.  Kingsley,  William  Kinne,  Judge  James  Lanman,  Dr. 
Morgan,  Rev.  Elijah  Parish,  D.  D.,  John  Pellet,  Henry  Perkins,  Rev. 
John  D.  Perkins,  Prof.  Geo.  Shepard,  D.  D.,  John  Shepard,  Samuel 
Stephens,  Alexander  Stephens,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Hon.  Henry  R. 
Storrs,  M.  C.,  George  Sumner,  M.  D.,  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.  D,, 
Hon.  Wilkins  Updyke,  Hon.  Henry  Wheaton,  Walter  Wheaton, 
M.  D.,  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Williams,  Gen.  William  Williams,  Col. 
Increase  I.  Wilson,  John  Witter. 

Young  ladies  also  were  educated  at  this  academy.  Among 
the  more  prominent  were  Miss  Catherine  Putnam,  granddaughter 
of  General  Putnam ;  Miss  Nancy  Allen,  afterwards  wife  of  Hon. 
Thomas  W.  Williams  of  New  London ;  Miss  Harriet  Brown,  of 
Providence,  R.  L,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Commodore  Morris, 
U.  S.  N. ;  the  Misses  Lester  of  Preston,  Miss  Betsy  Sheldon. 

The  first  rectors  of  the  academy  were  Ebenezer  Pemberton, 
LL.  D.,  afterwards  principal  of  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover,  Mass. ; 
Miles  Merwin,  Hon.  Timothy  Pitkin ;  Hon.  Calvin  Goddard,  who 
afterwards  practiced  law  in  Plainfield ;  Hon.  Sylvanus  Backus,  Rev. 
Lynde  Huntington;  Rev.  Eliphalet  Nott,  D.  D.,  afterwards  presi- 
dent of  Union  College,  New  York ;  Dr.  Benjamin  Allen,  Dr. 
Zechariah  Eddy. 

The  early  lawyers  in  Plainfield  had  considerable  practice  from 
the  land  deals  and  complications.  The  nearest  high  court  was  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  New  London  County.  There  Major 
Fitch  and  Gov.  Winthrop  often  met  to  have  decision  on  some  land 

dispute. 

While  Major  Fitch  and  Winthrop 
Were  grasping  lands  and  deeds, 
The  faithful,  old-time  doctor. 
Was  tending-  human  needs. 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BY    JAMES    L.    GARDNER,    M.     D.  QI 

The  following  persons  appear  to  have  come  and  bought  land 
of  Fitch  and  Winthrop  in  the  Quinebaug  Country  (1690) :  Philip 
Bump,  Matthias  Button  and  James  Kingsbury  from  Haverhill ; 
Peter  Crery,  James  and  John  Dean,  Wm.  Marsh  and  Edward 
Yeomans,  and  sons  of  Capt.  John  Gallup  from  Stonington ;  Wm. 
Douglass  from  New  London ;  John  Fellows  and  Ebenezer  Harris 
froni  Ipswich ;  Nathaniel  Jewell,  Isaac  and  Samuel  Shepard,  and 
Isaac  Wheeler  froiii  Concord ;  Joseph  Parkhurst,  Benjamin,  Edward 
•and  Joseph  Spalding,  and  Jacob  Warren  from  Chelmsford ;  Timothy 
■and  Thomas  Pierce  from  Woburn ;  Thomas  Williams  from  Stow. 

In  the  summer  of  1695  some  representative  men  of  that  time 
"vvere  haled  to  court.  Benn  Spalding,  Thomas  Brooks,  Obediah 
Johnson,  John  Smith,  and  Daniel  Edwards  were  fined  los.  and  costs 
of  ye  court  for  cartin'  away  hay  from  ye  land  ol  Major  Fitch. 

John  Hancock,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  bought  land  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
Quinebaug,  the  deed  being  recorded  in  1786  by  Wm.  Robinson, 
town  clerk. 

A  list  of  the  Town  Clerks  is  here  given : 

James   Dean 1695.  John  Dunlap 1839. 

Jacob    Warren,       1697.  Geo.  Cady, 1843. 

•James   Dean,       1712.  Nathaniel  Medbery 1849. 

John   Hall 1721.  Joseph  C.  Spalding', 1852. 

Timothy   Pierce, 1725.  John  J.    Penrose, 1853. 

Ezekiel  Pierce 1748.  Reuben  Weaver,  2nd,    ....  1853. 

John   Peirce 1755.  Joseph  C.   Spalding,  .     .'  .     .     .  1854. 

Ezekiel  Pierce 1756.  Nathaniel  Medbery, 1855. 

William  Robinson, 1771.  Reuben  Weaver,  2nd 1856. 

•Squire  Cady,       1805.  Joseph  C.  Spalding 1858. 

W"illiam  Robinson, 1806.  Nathaniel   Medbery,       ....  1859. 

'Squire  Cady,       1807.  Lyman   Spaulding 1860. 

T.   Hmckley, 1817.  John   S.   French, 1863. 

Squire  Cady 1821.  Reuben  Weaver 1875. 

F.  B.  Johnson, 1835.  *Sessions   Li.   Adams,    ....  1886. 

•Geo.    Cady 1837. 

Timothy  Pierce,  of  Plainfield,  was  the  first  judge  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  for  Windham  County,  first  held  at  Windham, 

*Mr.  Adams  also  holds  office  as  Town  Treasurer  and  Registrar. 


92  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

June  26,  1726.  The  first  lawyer  in  Plainfield  was  William  Dixon, 
of  Volimtown,  who  engaged  in  practice  in  1790.  He  was  justice 
of  the  peace  in  1806,  as  were  Anthony  Bradford,  John  Douglass, 
Joshua  Dunlap,  Calvin  Goddard,  Ephraim  Wheeler. 

David  Gallup,  afterwards  Lieut.  Governor,  was  probate  judge 
for  25  years.  He  was  a  native  of  Plainfield,  and  a  descendant  of 
the  earlier  families  of  that  name  in  the  Quinebaug  Country. 

A  list  of  Probate  Judges,  District  of  Plainfield,  is  here  given : 

Timothy   Peirce 1747—1748.  Joseph  Eaton 1829—1845. 

John  Crery 1748—1759.  David  Gallup, 1845—1870. 

Jabez   Fitch, 1759—1783.  Jeremiah   Starkweather,       1870—1871. 

John  Felch 1783—1784.  Waldo  Tillinghast,   .     .     .     1871— 1872'. 

John   Douglass,     ....  1784—1795.  Chas.   Hinckley,     ....     1872—1874. 

James  Gordon 1795—1812.  Walter  Palmer 1874—1875. 

Rufus  Adams 1812—1819.  John  S.  French 1875—1876. 

Sessions    Lester 1819-1821.  Walter  Palmer  (July  to  Dec),  1876. 

Ebenezer  Young-,      .     .     .  1821—1829.  Waldo   Tillinghast, 1877. 

Judge  Tillinghast,  born  in  Killingly,  June  10,  1833,  is  the 
oldest  in  service  of  any  office  holder  in  town. 

John  Alpin  is  mentioned  as  a  lawyer  who  moved  to  Plainfield 
from  Providence,  where  he  had  made  a  fortune.  Ebenezer  Fitch 
went  from  the  schools  here  to  Yale  and  became  the  first  president 
of  Williams  College.  Hezekiah  Spaulding,  another  of  Plainfield's 
sons,  moved  to  Maine  and  became  a  member  of  the  bar  and  of 
the  bench  in  that  state.  Asa  Spaulding  went  to  Norwich  and 
practiced  law ;  others  have  gone  forth  from  the  tow^i  in  the  law  and 
other  professions. 

In  1765  Elisha  Paine,  son  of  the  famous  Separatist,  practiced 
law  in  Plainfield.  His  father  had  been  thrust  into  Windham  jail  for 
conscience  sake,  with  Benajah  Douglass,  tried  and  sentenced  by 
Justice  Huntington  for  "exhorting  and  preaching." 

About  1790  Rufus  Adams,  Asa  Backus,  Moses  Cleveland,  and 
Wm.  Pitt  Cleveland  were  admitted  to  the  bar  and  practiced  in 
Plainfield.  Joseph  Eaton  and  Job  Monroe  were  practicing  in  1809. 
In  1830  Lawyer  Francis  B.  Johnson  had  an  office  in  Plainfield  where 
it  still   is   standing  on   Main   street   on   the  land   of   Benjamin    A. 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BY    JAMES    L.    GARDNER,    M.    D.  93 

Walker.     Preceding-  him  Ira   Case,  admitted  tO'  bar  of  Windham 
Coimty,  had  practiced  in  Plainfield. 

WilHam  Dyer,  of  Canterbury,  born  October  25,  1802,  studied 
at  Plainfield  Academy  and  with  Hon.  Calvin  Goddard,  and  also  with 
Lawyer  Frost,  and  began  practice  in  Central  Village,  in  1831.  He 
served  in  the  Legislature  as  representative  and  was  chairman  of 
the  judiciary  committee.  He  died  in  1875.  Under  him  Judge 
Daniel  W.  Bond,  of  Canterbury,  studied  law,  having  been  educated 
at  Plainfield  Academy.  Lawyer  Boiid  entered  intoi  practice  in 
Massachusetts.  He  is  now  judge  of  the  superior  court  for  Eastern 
Massachusetts,  residing  at  Waltham  in  that  state,  but  came  back  to 
Plainfield  to  deliver  the  bicentennial  oration. 

John  J.  Penrose,  born  in  New  York,  December,  1822,  studied 
law  with  Gov.  Chauncy  Cleveland,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1843.  After  practicing  two  years  in  Hampton  he  came  to  Central 
Village,  and  continued  in  practice  there  till  his  health  caused  him 
to  relinquish  all  business  cares  in  1892.  He  died  in  New  York, 
July  29,  1899,  and  was  buried  in  Central  Village. 

Edgar  M.  Warner,  now  judge  of  the  city  court  in  Putnam, 
was  a  practicing  attorney  in  Plainfield  from  1875  to  1885. 

The  first  town-meeting  in  Plainfield  was  held  May  31,  1699, 
and  the  following  men  were  chosen  selectmen :  Jacob  Warren, 
Joseph  Spalding,  Stephen  Hall,  William  Johnson,  Samuel  Adams; 
Town  Clerk  [or  recorder],  James  Dean;  Constable,  John  Fellows; 
Surveyor,  Thos.  Williams. 

The  present  board  of  selectmen  of  Plainfield  is  comprised  of 
three  Republicans  and  two  Democrats,  the  latter  elected  under  the 
law  of  minority  representation.  Their  names  are  as  follows :  S. 
A.  Clark,  George  G.  Chipman,  Albert  E.  Shoales,  Daniel  F.  Green, 
Charles  H.  Gray. 

The  town  has  been  represented  in  the  Legislature  as  follows  : 
Senators  from   Plainfield. 


Judge  Joseph  Eaton,    .     . 

.     1840—1. 

♦Judge  David  Gallup,  .     . 

1869. 

Dr.  Mowry  Burgess,     .     . 

1844. 

Dr.  William  A.  Lewis, 

.     1880—1. 

Archibald  Pry 

1853. 

Joseph   Hutchins,       .     .     . 

.     1887—8. 

Dr.  Wm.  H.  Cogswell,  .     . 

1860. 

Edwin  Milner 

1892. 

♦Speaker  of  House,  1866 ;  Treaident  pro  tem.,  of  Senate,  1869 ;  Lieut.  Governor,  1879. 


94 


PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 


Representatives  from  Plainfield. 
Compiled  by  George  S.  Goddard,  of  Hartford. 


1708— May,  Jno.  Fellows.  Oct.,  John 
Fellows,    Jacob   Warren. 

1709— May,  John  Fellows.  June, 
Thomas  Williams.  Oct., 
Thomas  Williams. 

1710 — May,  Thomas  Williams.  Aug., 
Thomas  Williams.  Oct.,  Jacob 
Warren. 

1711 — May,  Thomas  Williams,  John 
Smith.  June,  Thomas  Will- 
iams.    Oct.,  Joshua  Whitney. 

1712 — May,  .Joseph  Spalding-,  Joseph 
Fellows.  Oct.,  Joshua  Whit- 
ney (absent),  John  Smith 
(absent.) 

1713— May,  Capt.  Thomas  Williams, 
John  Smith.  Oct.,  Joseph 
Parkhurst,  John  Crary. 

1714 — May,  Joseph  Parkhurst,  John 
Smith.  Oct.,  John  Fellowes, 
John  Crary. 

1715 — May,  Joshua  Whitney,  John 
Smith.  Oct.,  Capt.  Thomas 
Williams,  John  Smith. 

1716 — May,  Capt,  Thomas  Williams, 
John  Smith.  Oct.,  Capt. 
Thomas  Williams,  John 
Smith. 

1717 — May,  Capt.  Thomas  Williams, 
Joshua  Whitney.  Oct.,  John 
Fellowes,  Lt.  Timothy  Peirce. 

1718— May,  Lt.  Timothy  Peirce,  John 
Fellows,  Oct., Timothy  Peirce, 
Joseph  Fellows. 

1719 — May,  Lt.  Timothy  Peirce,  John 
Fellows.  Oct.,  Lt.  Timothy 
Peirce,   John  Hall. 

1720 — May,  Timothy  Peirce,  John 
Fellows.  Oct.,  Timo.  Peirce, 
Eph.  Kingsbury. 

1721 — May,  Timo.  Peirce,  John  Fel- 
lows. Oct.,  Timo.  Pierce, 
Eph.  Kingsbury. 

1722— May,  Timo.  Peirce,  Danll. 
Lawrence.  Oct.,  Lt.  Timo. 
Pierce,  Danll.  Lawrence. 

1723— May,  Lt.  Timo.  Pierce,  Danll. 
Lawrence.  Oct.,  Capt.  Timo. 
Pierce,    Ephraim   Wheeler. 

1724— May,  Capt.  Timo.  Peirce,  John 
Crery.  Oct.,  John  Crery,  Wm. 
Marsh. 


1725— May,  Capt.  Timo.  Peirce,  Tho. 
Stephens.  Oct.,  Capt.  Timo. 
Pierce,  John  Fellows. 

1726— May,  Capt.  Timo.  Peirce,  Danll. 
Lawrence.  Oct.,  Capt.  Timo. 
Peirce,    Edwd.    Spaulding. 

1727— May,  Capt.  Timo.  Peirce,  Eph. 
Kingsbury.  Oct.,  Capt.  Timo. 
Pierce,   Daniel   Lawrance. 

1728— May,  Capt.  Timo.  Pierce,  Eph. 
Kingsbury.  Oct.,  John  Crery^ 
Joseph  Williams. 

1729 — May,  Danll.  Lawrence,  Joseph 
Lawrence.  Oct.,  John  Creei-y, 
William  Dean. 

1730 — May,  John  Crery,  Thomas 
Stephens.  Oct.,  Daniel  Law- 
rence,  William  Marsh. 

1731 — May,  John  Crerey,  William. 
Marsh.  Oct.,  Ephraim  Kings- 
bury, Daniel  Lawrence. 

1732 — May,  Ephm.  Kingsbury,  David 
Whitney.  Oct.,  John  Creerey, 
Ephraim   Kingsbury. 

1733— Feb.  15.  John  Creerey,  Eph- 
raim Kingsbury.  May,  John 
Creery,  William  Marsh.  Oct. 
Ephraim  Kingsbury,  Daniel 
Lawrence. 

1734 — May,  Ephraim  Kingsbui'y,  Will- 
iam Marsh.  Oct.,  Ephraim 
Kingsbury,   Saml.    Spaulding. 

1735 — May,  Ephraim  Kingsbury,  Will- 
iam Marsh.  Oct.,  Ephraim 
Kingsbury,    Joseph   Warren. 

1736 — May,  Ephraim  Kingsbury,  Will- 
Marsh.  Oct.,  Ephraim  Kings- 
bury,  William  Marsh. 

1737— May,  William  Marsh,  Thomas; 
Peirce.  Oct.,  John  Creery, 
Daniel  Lawrence. 

1738 — May,  William  Marsh,  Thomas; 
Stephens.  Oct.,      Ephraim 

Kingsbury,  Thomas  Stephens. 

1739 — May,  Thomas  Stephens,  Isaac 
Shepard.  Oct.,  Thomas  Ste- 
phens, John  Douglass. 

1740 — May,  Thomas  Stephens,  Thom- 
as Pierce.  July  8,  Thomas 
Stephens,  Thomas  Pierce. 
Oct.,  William  Marsh,  Thomas 
Stephens.  Nov.,    William 

Marsh,   Thomas   Stephens. 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BY    JAMES    L.    GARDNER,    M.    D. 


95 


1741 — May,  Thomas  Stephens,  John 
Douglass.  Oct.,      Ephraim 

Kingsbury,  Capt.  Danl.  Law- 
rence. 
1742 — May,    Capt.    Thomas    Stephens, 
William    Marsh.      Oct.,    Capt. 
Thomas  Stephens,  John  Doug- 
lass. 
1743— May,    Capt.    Thomas   Stephens, 
William   Marsh.      Oct.,    Capt. 
Thomas     Stephens,     Thomas 
Pierce. 
1744 — May,  John  Crary,  Capt.  Thom- 
as  Stephens.        Oct.,   William 
Marsh,  Joseph  Parkhirst. 
1745— Feb.  26,  William  Marsh,  Joseph 
Parkhirst.     Mar.   14,   William 
Marsh,       Joseph       Parkhirst, 
May,  William  Marsh,  Joseph 
Parkhirst.       July  2,   William 
Marsh,       Joseph       Parkhirst. 
Aug.   16,   William  Marsh,  Jo- 
seph   Parkhirst.     Oct.,    John 
'  Crary,  William  Marsh. 

1746 — May,  John  Crery,  William 
Marsh.  June  19,  William 
Marsh.  Oct.,  John  Creerey, 
Benjamin  Wheeler. 

1747— Jan.  28,  John  Carery,  Benja. 
Wheeler.  May,  John  Crarey, 
William  Marsh.  Oct.,  John 
Creere5%    Benja.    Wheeler. 

174S— May,  Capt.  John  Crerey,  Capt. 
Thomas  Stephens.  Oct.,  John 
Crarey,  Ezekiel  Pierce. 

1749 — May,  John  Crery,  Benjamin 
Wheeler. 

17.5() — May,  John  Creary,  Benjamin 
Wheeler.  Oct.,  Jonathan 
Dean,  Ezekiel  Pierce. 

1751 — May,  Benjamin  Wheeler,  Jon- 
athan Dean.  Oct.,  Capt.  Ben- 
jamin Wheeler,  Ezekiel 
Pierce. 

1752— May,  Capt.  Benja.  Wheeler, 
Ezekiel  Pierce.  Oct.,  Capt. 
Benjamin  Wheeler,  Francis 
Dean. 

1753— May,  Capt.  Benjn.  Wheeler, 
Ezekiel  Pierce.  Oct.,  Jona- 
than Dean,   James   Bradford. 

1754— May,  Capt.  John  Douglass, 
Capt.  Thos.  Stevens.  Oct., 
Capt.  John  Douglass,  Thomas 
Pierce. 


1755 — Jan.  8,  Capt.  John  Douglas^ 
Thomas     Pierce.  Mar.     13, 

Capt.  John  Douglass,  Thomas. 
Pierce.  May,  Capt.  Benjamin 
Wheeler,  Capt.  John  Douglas. 
Aug.  27,  Benjamin  Wheeler^ 
Capt.  John  Douglass.  Oct., 
Capt.  Thomas  Stevens,  Capt. 
Benjamin  Wheeler. 
175G— Jan.21,  Capt.  Thomas  Stephens, 
Capt.  Benjamin  Wheeler. 
Feb.  12,  Capt.  Thomas  Stev- 
ens, Capt.  Benjamin  Wheeler. 
Mar.  17,  Capt.  Thomas  Stev- 
ens, Capt.  Benjamin  Wheeler. 
May,  James  Bradford,  Capt. 
Benja.  Wheeler.  Sept.  8, 
James  Bradford.  Oct.,  Thom- 
as Pierce,  Capt.  Thomas. 
Stevens. 

1757 — Jan.  20,  Thomas  Pierce,  Capt.. 
Thomas  Stevens.  Feb.  9, 
Thomas  Pierce,  Capt.  Thomas 
Stevens.  May,        Thomas 

Pierce,  James  Bradford. 
Oct.,  Capt.  Ezekiel  Pierce, 
Capt.   Isaac  Coit. 

175S— Mar.  8,  Capt.  Ezekiel  Pierce^ 
Capt.  Isaac  Coit.  May,  Capt. 
Ezekiel  Pierce,  Capt.  Isaac 
Coit.  Oct.,  James  Bradford, 
Capt.  Isaac  Coit. 

1759 — Feb.  7,  Capt.  Isaac  Coit.  Mar. 
8,  James  Bradford,  Capt.  Is- 
aac Coit.  May,  Major  Eze- 
kiel Pierce,  Capt.  Benjamin 
Wheeler.  Oct.,  Major  Ezekiel 
Pierce,  Capt.  Thomas  Ste- 
phens. 

1760 — Mar.  13,  Major  Ezekiel  Pierce^ 
Capt.  Thomas  Stephens.  May, 
Capt.  Benjamin  Wheeler, 
Capt.  Thomas  Stevens.  Oct., 
Capt.  Thomas  Stevens,  Capt. 
Benjamin    Wheeler. 

1761— March  26,  Capt.  Thomas  Stev- 
ens. May,  Capt.  Benjamin 
Wheeler,  Thomas  Gates. 
Oct..  Capt.  Benjamin  Wheeler, 
Capt.  Thomas  Stevens. 

1762— Mar.    4, 

May,  Capt.  Thomas  Stevens, 
Capt.  John  Douglas.  Oct., 
Capt.  John  Douglas,  Jamest 
Bradford. 

1763— May,  Capt.  Isaac  Coit,  Capt. 
John  Douglas.  Oct.,  Capt. 
John  Douglass,  Capt.  Isaac 
Coit. 


96 


PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 


1764 — Mar.  8,  Capt.  John  Douglass, 
Capt.  Isaac  Coit.  May,  Maj. 
Ezekiel  Pierce,  Capt.  James 
Bradford.  Oct.,  Capt.  James 
Bradford,    Capt.    Isaac    Coit. 

1765 — May,  Capt.  James  Bradford, 
Capt.  Isaac  Coit.  Sept.  19, 
Oct.,  Majr.  Ezekiel  Pierce, 
Elisha  Payne. 

1766— May,  Elisha  Payne,  Majr.  Eze- 
kiel Pierce.  Oct.,  Elisha 
Payne,    Majr.   Ezekiel  Pierce. 

1767 — Jan.  29,  Majr.  Ezekiel  Pierce, 
May,  Elisha  Payne,  Maj.  Eze- 
kiel Pierce.  Oct.,  Maj.  Eze- 
kiel  Pierce,  Elisha  Payne. 

1768— May,  Elisha  Payne,  Majr.  Eze- 
kiel Pierce.  Oct.,  Capt.  John 
Douglas,  Hezh.   Spalding. 

1769— Jan.  5,  Capt.  John  Douglas, 
Hezh.  Spalding.  May,  Capt. 
Benjamin  Douglass,  Andrew 
Backus.  Oct.,  Capt.  John 
Douglass,  Gideon  Welles. 

1770— May,  Capt.  John  Douglass,  John 
Pierce.         Oct.,     Capt.     John 
Douglass,  John  Pierce. 
1771— May,     Capt.     John     Douglass, 
John     Pierce.  Oct.,     Capt. 

John  Douglas,  John  Pierce. 

1772— May,  Capt.  John  Douglas,  Jesse 
Spaulding.  Oct.,  Capt.  John 
Douglass,  Capt.   Isaac  Coit. 

1773— May,  Capt.  John  Douglass, 
Capt.  Isaac  Coit.  Oct.,  Capt. 
John  Douglas,    Jesse  Spalding. 

1774— Jan.  12,  Capt.  John  Douglas. 
May,  Capt.  Isaac  Coit,  Capt. 
James  Bradford.  Oct.,  Capt. 
Isaac  Coit,  Majr.  John  Doug- 
las. 

1775— Mar.  2,  Capt.  Isaac  Coit,  Colo. 
John  Douglas.  Apr.  26,  Capt. 
Isaac  Coit,  Capt.  John  Doug- 
lass. May,  Capt.  James  Brad- 
ford, William  Robinson.  Oct., 
William  Robinson,  Joshua 
Dunlap.  Dec.  14,  Joshua 
Dunlap. 

1776 — May,  Capt.  Andrew  Backus, 
Joshua  Dunlap.  Oct.,  Elisha 
Perkins,  Joshua  Dunlap. 

1777— May,  Capt.  James  Bradford, 
Capt.  Andrew  Backus.  Oct., 
Capt.  James  Bradford,  Joseph 
Shepard. 

1778— May,  Capt.  John  Cady,  William 
Robinson.  Oct.,  Gen'l  John 
Douglas,  John  Cady. 


1779 — May,  Joseph  Shepard,  Elisha 
Perkins.  Oct.,  Majr.  Andrew 
Backus,   Isaac  Knight. 

17S0 — May,  Capt.  Ab'm.  Waterman, 
John  Pierce.  Oct.,  Gen'l  John 
Douglas,  Doct.  Elisha  Per- 
kins. 

1781 — May,  Capt.  John  Douglass, 
Abraham  Sheppard.  Oct., 
Capt.  James  Bradford,  Majr, 
Andrew  Backus. 

1782 — May,  Gen'l  John  Douglas,  Capt. 
William  Dixon.  Oct.,  Samuel 
Fox,   Capt.  William  Dixon. 

1783 — May,  Gen'l  John  Douglass, 
Majr.  Andrew  Backus.  Oct., 
Gen'l  John  Douglass,  Capt. 
James   Bradford. 

1784 — May,  Gen'l  John  Douglas,  Eb- 
enezer  Eaton.  Oct.,  Joseph 
Shepard,  Capt.  Joshua  Dun- 
lap. 

1785 — May,  Majr.  Andrew  Backus, 
Capt.  Joshua  Dunlap.  Oct., 
Capt.  Joshua  Dunlap,  Capt. 
William   Dixon. 

1786— May,  Capt.  Joshua  Dunlap, 
Joseph  Shepard.  Oct.,  Gen'l 
John  Douglas,  Stephen  Hall, 
Jr. 

1787— May,  Gen'l  John  Douglas, 
Joseph  Shepard.  Oct.,  Eph- 
raim  Wheeler,  Anthony  Brad- 
ford. 

1788 — May,  Joseph  Shepard,  Ephraim 
Wheeler.  Oct.,  Capt.  Stephen 
Hall,    Capt.   Ebenezer  Eaton. 

1789 — May,  Gen'l  John  Douglas,  Capt. 
Stephen  Hall,  Jr.  Oct.,  Jos- 
eph Shepard,  Capt.  William 
Dixon. 

1790— May,  Gen'l  James  Gordon, 
Joseph  Shepard.  Oct.,  Jona- 
than Hammet,  Ebenezep 
Eaton. 

1791 — May,  Josiah  Shepard,  John 
Douglas.  Oct.,  Joseph  Shep- 
ard, Ebenezer  Eaton. 

1792— May,  Joseph  Shepard,  John 
Pierce.  Oct.,  James  Bradford, 
Ebenezer   Eaton. 

1793— May,  William  Pierce,  Timothy 
Lester.  Oct.,  Jona.  Hammet, 
William  Pierce. 

1794 — May,  William  Pierce,  Jona- 
Hammett.  Oct., Joshua  Dun- 
lap,  William   Pierce. 


HISTORICAL    PAPER    BV    JAMES    L.    GARDNER,    M.    D. 


97 


ndn—Miiy,   William   Pierce,    Phineas 
Pierce.      Oct.,    Stephen    Hall, 
Jr.,  Calvin  Goddard. 
1796— May,  Stephen  Hall,  Jr.,  Joshua 
Dunlap.      Oct.,    Joshua   Dun- 
lap,  William  Dixson. 
1797— May,   William  Dixon,  Ephrairn 
Wheeler.      Oct.,   Calvin  God- 
dard,  Stephen  Hall. 
179S— May,  Calvin  Goddard,  Stephen 
Hall,   Jr.      Oct.,   Calvin  God- 
dard, Anthony  Bradford. 
1799— May,  Calvin  Goddard,  Anthony 
Bradford.     Oct.,  Joshua  Dun- 
lap,  William  Dixson. 
ISOO— May,    Calvin   Goddard,   Joshua 
Dunlap.  Oct.,  Joshua  Dunlap, 
Calvin  Goddard. 
1801— May,    Calvin   Goddard,    Joshua 
Dunlap.  Oct.,  Joshua   Dunlap, 
William  Dixson. 
1802- May,   Anthony  Bradford,   Eph- 
rairn   Wheeler.     Oct.,    Joshua 
Dunlap,  Joseph  Eaton. 
1803- May,    Joseph    Shepard,    Joseph 
Eaton.    Oct.,  Jonathan  Ham- 
mil,  Joseph  Eaton. 
1804— May,  William    Pierce,    Luther 
Smith.       Oct.,     John     Lester, 
Jer'h  Kinsman. 
1805— May,     John    Lester,    Jeremiah 
Kinsman.     Oct.,   Calvin   God- 
dard, Joseph  Eaton. 
180&— May,  Anthony  Bradford,  Joseph 
Eaton.     Oct.,  Anthony  Brad- 
ford, William  Wheeler. 
1S07— May,     Calvin     Goddard,     John 
Douglass,   Jr.     Oct.,    William 
Harris,   John   Gallup. 
ISOS— May,     John     Gallup,     Sessions 
Lester.  Oct.,  Sessions  Lestei-, 
Aaron   Crary. 
1809— May,   Anthony  Bradford,   Ben- 
jamin   Bacon.      Oct.,    Joseph 
Eaton,   Timothy  Parkes. 
1810- May,   Joseph   Eaton,   Benjamin 
Bacon.      Oct.,     John    Gallup, 
Tim.    Parkhurst. 
1811— May,    Sessions    Lester,    Luther 
Smith.       Oct.,    William    Hall, 
Elias  Parkhurst. 
1812— May,    Joseph    Eaton,    Anthony 
Bradford.  Oct.,  Joseph  Eaton, 
Anthony  Bradford. 
1813— May,    Joseph    Eaton,    Anthony 
Bradford.  Oct.,  Joseph    Eaton, 
Benjamin  Bacon. 


1814- May,  Joseph  Eaton,  John  Dun- 
lap. Oct.,  Siah  Fuller,  Ed- 
ward Clarke. 

1815— May,  Siah  Fuller,  Joseph  Eaton, 
Oct.,  John  Douglass,  Sessions 
Lester. 

1816— May,  John  Lester,  Levi  Robin- 
son. Oct.,  Philip  Kinyon,  Job 
Angell. 

ISir— May,  John  Lester,  Lemuel 
Woodward.  Oct.,  Sessions 
Lester,   Philip  Kenyon. 

ISIS— May,  Sessions  Lester,  Oliver 
Coates.  Oct.,  Oliver  Coates, 
Erastus  Lester. 

1S19— May,  Erastus  Lester,  Vincent 
Hinkley. 

1820— Sessions   Lester,   Aaron  Crary. 

1821 — John   Dunlap,   Joseph   Eaton. 

1822— Joseph  Eaton,  Sessions  Lester. 

1823— John  Dunlap,  Isaac  Knight. 

1S24— Sessions  Lester,   Isaac  Knight. 

1825-— Sessions  Lester,    William  Kinne. 

1826— Joseph    Eaton,    John    Dunlap. 

1827 — Jeremiah  Kinsman,  Erastus 
Lester. 

1828— Jonathan   Goff,   Joseph   Eaton. 

1829— Mowry  Burgess,  Vincent 
Hinkley. 

1830— Joseph  S.  Gladding,  Jonathan 
Goff. 

1831— Joseph  S.  Gladding,  Wm.  H. 
Cogswell. 

1S32— Lovell  Cady,   Amos  Witter. 

1833— Henry  Angell.  Joseph  Eaton. 

1834— Jonathan   Goff,   Isaac   Knight. 

1835 — Amos   Witter,   Erastus  Lester. 

1836— Francis  B.  Johnson,  Jonathan 
Goff. 

1837 — Sessions  Lester,  Benjamin 
Bacon. 

1838- Arnold  Penner,  Nathaniel 
French. 

1839— Luther   Smith,    William   Dyer. 

1840- Arnold  Fenner,  Elisha  L.  Fuller. 

1S41— David  Gallup,  Cornell  Monroe. 

1842— Daniel  Hill,  Samuel  Crary. 

1843— John  Gardner,  James  Miller. 

1844— Jonathan  Goff,  Joseph  C. 
Spaulding. 

1845— Joseph  Hutchins,  George  Ken- 
yon. 

184C— George  Cady.  Mowry  B.  Spald- 


m.i 


1847 


•Amos   Witter,   Jr.,   Andrew   C. 
Lester. 


98 


PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 


1848— Augustus       Prior,       John       S. 

French. 
1819— Amos    Witter,    Jr.,    Elijah    W. 

Curtis. 
1850— David  Gallup,  Sanford  Boyden. 
1851- Hezekiah     French,     Caleb     P. 

Wilson. 
1852— Elisha      L.       Fuller,       Samuel 

Humes. 
1853— Albert      Gordon,      Thomas      J. 

Gates. 
1854 — William     B.      Ames,     William 

Kenyon. 
1855— W.  C.  Marple,  Simon  W.  Millar. 
1856— Archibald  Fry,  Frank  S.  Bur- 
gess. 
1857— Job     H.      Cutter,     Samuel     D. 

Millett. 
1S5S — Joseph    Hutchins,    Jr.,    Henry 

L.  Wilson. 
1859- Darius  Wood,   Elisha  P.   Hale. 
I860— William    Shepard,    Caleb    Till- 

inghast. 
1861— Charles  Hinckley,   Caleb   Ben- 
nett. 
1862— J.   S.  Atwood,  David  Gallup. 
1863— David  Gallup,  J.   M.   Shepard. 
1864— Jos.  H.  Gladding,  David  Gallup. 
1865- David  Gallup,  J.  P.  Brown. 
1866— David    Gallup,    Albert    Austin. 
1867 — Frank  S.  Burgess,  Arnold  Fen- 

ner. 
1868- J.   S.   Atwood,   Math.   Olin. 
1869— Isaac  K.  Cutler,  David  Geer. 
1870— Henry     S.     Newton,     John     D. 

Rood. 
1871— John  L.   Chapman,  William  S. 

Babcock. 
1872 — Asher  R.  Herrick,  Jr.,  Ephraim 

Browning. 


1873- William  A.  Lewis,  E.  A.  Atkine. 
1874— H.   C.   Starkweather,  Elisha  P.. 

Hale. 
1875 — Joseph     Hutchins,     George     A.. 

Rouse. 
1876 — Albert  C.  Greene,  GurdonCady.. 
1877 — David      Gallup,      Richard      H.. 

Ward. 
1878— Reuben    Weaver,     Silenus     H.. 

Fellows. 
1873- Walter      Palmer,      Merrill     A. 

Ladd. 
1880 — George  Loring,  John  S.French,. 
1881 — William   S.    Simmons,   Roswell 

Ensworth. 
1882 — Henry     F.     Newton,     Havilah,. 

M.  Prior. 
1883— Albert   B.    Sprague,    Willis    D,. 

Rouse. 
1884 — David     Emerson,     Edward     E. 

Hill. 
1885 — Philip        Mathewson,        Joseph. 

Hutchins. 
1886— James    M.    Wilcox,    Walter    L. 

Palmer. 
1887— Edwin      Milner,      Edward      G^ 

Bugbee. 
1889 — Sessions   L.    Adams,    Milton   J. 

Kingsley. 
1891— Edwin  Milner,  George  T.  San- 
ger. 
1893- Frank   H.   Tillinghast,    George- 

T.  Sanger. 
1895— Amasa    B.    Taber,     Lucius    B. 

Morgan. 
1897— Charles     E.      Barber,      Walter- 

Kingsley. 
1899— John    W.    Atwood,    Moses    A.. 

Linnell. 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  PLAINFIELD. 


Rev.  Henry  T.  Arnold. 


The  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  town  of  Plainfield  is  the  history 
of  the  organized  religious  effort  of  the  Church  of  Christ  within  its. 
bounds.  The  history  of  religion  here  has  been  written,  not  with 
pen  and  ink,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  hearts  of  the  many 
good  men  and  women  who  have  lived  in  the  town.  It  lies  behind 
the  ecclesiastical  history  in  which  it  has  found  more  or  less  imperfect. 


C/J 

H 
O 

c: 
o 

X 


a 


"     E 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    PLAINFIELD.  99 

expression.  The  records  of  church  life  are  sometimes  meagre,  if 
not  altogether  wanting,  and  are  devoted  to  matters  which  are  often 
of  little  account  for  the  historian.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  follow 
the  course  of  ecclesiastical  history  from  the  origin  of  the  town ;  to 
see  the  early  settlers  assembling  in  the  house  of  worship,  the  centre 
of  their  common  life;  to  witness  the  forming  of  a  second  church 
towards  the  close  of  the  first  half  century  and  after  about  twenty- 
five  years  its  union  with  the  old  church ;  to  note  the  forming  of  a 
third  church  about  the  end  of  the  century;  and  to  greet  the  other 
churches  of  the  town  as  they  have  come  forward  and  taken  their 
place  within  the  present  century. 

The  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Plainfield,  then  Quinebaug  plan- 
tations, was  organized  January  3,  1705.  The  people  of  the  town, 
which  included  Canterbury  and  Plainfield,  had  held  religious  serv- 
ices from  time  to  time  since  the  first  settlers  came,  about  1650,  some- 
times meeting  on  the  east  of  the  Quinebaug,  sometimes  on  the  west. 
There  were  few  families — about  thirty — and  not  all  of  them  were 
religious  ;  but  at  the  first  town-meeting,  May  31,  1699,  provision 
was  made  for  the  regular  ministration  of  the  gospel,  while  as  yet 
there  was  no  church  and  no  meeting-house.  It  was  then  voted 
"to  give  Rev.  Mr.  Coit  a  call  for  one-quarter  of  a  year  for  ten 
pounds."  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  remained  tO'  see  a  meet- 
ing-house built  and  a  church  organized  and  he  served  as  its  pastor 
for  a  period  of  forty-nine  years.  The  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  set- 
tlers will  be  seen  in  an  agreement,  which  was  adopted  by  them  at 
a  meeting  held  November  13,  1699,  and  was  signed  by  37  names, 
many  of  which  are  still  borne  here  by  their  descendents : 

"Whereas  we,  the  inhabitants  living  on  the  east  and  west  sides 
of  Quinebaug  river,  did  last  Alay  petition  the  General  Court  of  this 
colony  that  we  might  be  according  to  law  incorporate  and  have  town 
powers  and  privileges  granted  to  us,  the  which  the  General  Court 
were  pleased  to  grant  unto  us,  and  now  that  we  might  rightly  and 
truly  improve  the  loyal  and  reasonable  privileges  granted  to  us,  so 
that  it  may  be  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  Lord. our  God  and 
for  the  good  and  comfort  of  us  and  our  children's  children,  we, 
the  subscribers,  do  by  these  presents  formally  oblige  ourselves,  our 


lOO  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

heirs,  executors,  administrators  and  assigns,  to  maintain  an  able, 
faithful,  orthodox  gospel  minister,  so  that  the  same  worship  of 
God  may  be  at  all  times  upheld  and  maintained  amongst  us,  and,  as 
to  the  way  of  raising  this  and  all  other  just  and  necessary  town 
charges,  that  it  be  done  justly  and  equally  according  to  each  one's 
just  proportion,  in  such  a  way  and  manner  as  the  major  part  of  us, 
the  subscribers,  agree  on,  or  according  to  the  law  of  the  colony — 
always  provided  that  a  suitable  and  honorable  maintenance  be  taken 
care  of  for  the  minister. 

"We  do  agree  that  a  suitable  allotment  and  accommodations 
be  laid  out  for  the  minister  that  God  in  his  holy  providence  shall 
settle  among  us ;  that  there  shall  be  an  allotment  or  accommoda- 
tions laid  out  in  some  suitable  place  to  be  and  remain  for  the 
minister  forever.' 

"Though  duty  to  God  and  the  wholesome  laws  of  the  colony 
would  oblige  to  a  thorough  care  in  the  education  of  our  children, 
yet  it  being  found  by  experience  that  there  is  some  too  great  re- 
missness in  parents  and  others,  and  also  difficulty  in  sending  so  re- 
mote one  from  another,  but  that  we  might  be  truly  endeavoring  to 
do  in  this  matter  as  God  shall  enable,  we  do  agree  that  the  townsmen 
do  yearly  take  special  care  in  this  matter. 

"In  testimony  of  the  premises,  witness  our  hands,  November 

13,  1699. 

"James   Fitch.  Joseph  Spalding. 

*  Stephen  Hall.  Thomas  Stephens. 

Nathaniel  Jewell.  William  Douglass. 

Thomas  Williams.  Thomas  Pierce. 

Jacob  Warren.  Henry  Walbridge. 

John  Spalding.  Obadiah  Johnson. 

Robert  Green.  Josiah  Cleveland. 

Matthias  Button.  Samuel  Adams. 

Thomas  Brooks.  Tixhall  Ensworth. 

Benjamin  Rood.  Isaac  Shepard. 

James  Deane.  Samuel  Shepard, 

Daniel  Woodward.  John  Fellows. 

Richard  Adams.  John  Smith. 

William  Marsh.  Edward  Baldwin. 

Joshua  Whitney.  Joseph  Parkhurst, 

William  Johnson.  John  Deane. 

Benjamin  Spalding.  Samuel  Howe. 

James  Kingsbury.  Peter  Crary." 
Samuel  Cleveland. 


THE    CHURCHES   OF    PLAINFIELD.  lOi 

A  meeting-house  was  build  in  1702  on  the  top  of  Black  Hill; 
and  after  seven  years  of  what  we  should  call  frontier  life,  guards 
being  placed  of  a  Sunday  about  the  meeting-house  to  protect  the 
people  from  a  sudden  attack  of  the  Indians,  the  house  was  "finished," 
and  every  householder  in  town  was  required  to  give  to  the  widow 
Samans  "one  peck  of  Indian  corn  a  year  in  consideration  for  her 
to  sweep  the  meeting-house;  so  long  as  she  doth  it,  the  corn  to  be 
carried  to  her."  Meantime,  in  1705,  the  church  had  begun  its 
existence  which  now  for  nearly  200  years  has  been  as  a  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth  in  this  town.  There  were  ten  members  when 
the  church  was  organized,  January  3,  1705;  there  are  now  eighty- 
four.  In  the  history  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Plainfield 
there  have  been  times  of  depression  and  seasons  of  revival  and 
steady  progress.  In  1820  seventy-one  persons  were  received  into 
the  church  and  several  years  have  marked  the  admission  of  a  score 
or  more.  With  the  gift  to  other  churches  and  other  places  of  many 
valued  members,  the  first  church  has  never  been  very  large.  A 
progress  of  the  church  in  doctrinal  statements  may  be  traced  from 
the  Saybrook  platform  of  1708  of  the  Established  Colonial  Church 
to  the  creed  of  1768,  in  accord  with  the  older  and  more  Con- 
gregational Cambridge  platform  as  advocated  by  the  Separatists, 
and  then  to  the  22  articles  of  the  creed  of  181 1,  and  the  13  articles  of 
^^33>  and,  finally,  in  the  present  simple  and  comprehensive  confes- 
sion in  accord  with  Congregational  standards.  In  1720  the  church 
moved  from  Black  Hill  to  a  more  central  position  on  the  turnpike, 
"a.  few  miles  north  of  the  house  where  Blodget  dwells,"  says  the 
record,  "by  the  country  road  that  goes  from  north  to  south 
end  of  the  town."  Blodget  dwelt  where  Henry  Dorrance  now 
lives.  But  that  church,  after  60  years  of  use,  became  old  and  was 
abandoned,  services  being  temporarily  held  in  the  brick  school-house 
on  the  corner  near  Evergreen  cemetery.  In  1784,  December  22,  the 
very  year  in  which  the  academy  was  chartered  in  the  noble  pursuit 
of  learning,  the  church  entered  into  a  new  meeting-house  half 
a  mile  south  of  the  former,  built  by  free  contributions,  and  used 
during  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Joel  Benedict,  D.  D.  This  building  was 
blown  down  in  the  September  gale  of  181 5  on  the  23d  day  of  the 


I02  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

month.  But  at  once  a  beautiful  stone  church  was  built  by  the 
society  and  completed  early  in  1819,  upon  the  same  spot,  that 
generations  to  come  might  there  worship  the  God  of  their  fathers. 
It  has  this  year  been  enriched  with  an  elegant  organ,  the  gift  of 
Charles  W.  and  Isabella  B.  Pratt,  in  memory  of  their  mother,  Mrs. 
Sarah  B.  Pratt.  The  venerable  old  place  called  the  Wing  house, 
built  in  1720,  or  soon  after,  was  the  parsonage  occupied  by  Dr.  Bene- 
dict, who  was  a  learned  divine,  an  able  teacher  and  beloved  pastor. 
The  present  pastor's  home,  a  short  distant  south  of  the  church,  was 
made  into  a  parsonage  in  1867.  To  this  has  now  been  joined  a  hand- 
some library  building,  opened  July  i,  1899,  a  memorial  of  Dr. 
Benedict,  on  whose  stone,  in  the  old  burying  ground  not  far  away 
may  be  read  the  words,  "The  good  man  needs  no  eulogy ;  his 
memorial  is  in  heaven."  He  left  certain  books  for  the  use  of  the 
pastor  and  the  church.  These  have  been  largely  augmented  by  the 
gift  of  the  late  Prof.  William  Kinne  of  this  place  and  church,  who 
gave  to  its  representatives,  both  his  library  and  the  building  in 
which  the  books  are  placed,  together  with  a  fund  for  maintaining 
the  library  in  time  to  come.  Among  these  books  is  the  Hebrew 
Bible  of  Samson  Occom,  the  famous  Indian  preacher,  thus  linking 
together  the  early  history  of  the  Colony  in  which  the  Indians 
played  so  important  a  part  and  received  so  eagerly  from  the  mis- 
sionary, the  gospel  of  salvation,  and  our  present  life  when  we  may 
take  from  the  shelves  of  a  fine  library  the  Bible  of  Occom,  or  with 
the  antiquary  may  trace  out  the  old  stones  in  yonder  Indian  burying 
ground. 

The  pastors  of  the  church  have  been  :  Joseph  Coit,  1699-1748; 
David  Rowland,  1748-1761  ;  John  Fuller,  1769-1777;  Joel  Benedict, 
1784-1816;  Orrin  Fowler,  1820-1831 ;  Samuel  Rockwell,  1832-1841  ; 
Andrew  Dunning,  1842-1847;  Henry  Robinson,  1847-1856; 
William  A.  Benedict,  1857-1863;  Joshua  L.  Maynard,  1 864-1 865  ; 
James  D.  Moore,  1867-1868;  William  Phipps,  1869-1876;  Asher  H. 
Wilcox,  1876-1883;  Abram  J.  Quick,  1883-1887;  Henry  T.  Arnold, 
1887  t^  the  present  time. 

By  the  laws  of  the  Colony  every  citizen,  with  few  exceptions, 
was  bound  to  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  church,  and  it  was 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    PLAINI'IELL).  I03 

largely  through  the  controversies  of  the  Separatists  or  Dissenters, 
that  sucli  taxation  was  finally  abolished.  The  Separatists,  who 
were  branded  as  New  Lights,  were  partly  the  fruit  of  the  religious 
awakening  of  1741,  and  subsequent  years,  and  partly  the  promoters 
of  religious  excitement  and  revival  as  well  as  the  advocates  of  the 
earlier  Congregational  order.  Their  preachers  or  evangelists, 
going  from  church  to  church,  became  unacceptable  to  many  oi 
the  churches  and  to  the  government  of  the  Colony,  and  were  often 
excluded  from  the  pulpits.  The  result  was  that  new  churches  were 
formed.  There  sprang  up  in  Plainfield  a  Separate  Church,  organ- 
ized in  1746.  They  ordained  one  of  their  own  number,  Thomas 
Stephens,  as  their  first  pastor,  and  built  a  meeting-house,  the  foun- 
dations of  which  may  still  be  seen  in  a  strawberry  patch  on  the 
right  on  the  Corey  Bridge  road,  a  little  north  of  the  railroad 
crossing,  near  the  home  now  occupied  by  James  S.  Miller,  not  far 
from  Evergreen  cemetery.  Probably  the  house  referred  to  is  the 
oldest  in  town.  Alexander  Miller  succeeded  as  pastor  about  1758. 
Their  numbers  grew  until  the  greater  part  of  the  people  of  the 
town  favored  their  views.  In  1760  two  ecclesiastical  societies  were 
authorized,  the  old  one  to  have  two-thirds  of  the  yearly  rate,  the 
Separate  to  have  one-third.  But  in  1766  they  returned  to  the  old 
church  near  Blodget's  with  new  light  for  all,  and  in  1769  the 
parish  tax  was  abolished,  and  all  were  united  in  the  First  Church. 
The  First  Baptist  Church  in  Plainfield  was  organized  October 
16,  1792.  The  original  articles  of  faith  are  similar  to  those  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  excepting  article  10,  which  relates  to  im- 
mersion.    These  were  signed  by  the  nineteen  members : 

John  Burgess.  Luranah  Burges. 

Josiah  Corey.  Leuranah  Moredock. 

George  Moredock.  Dorcas  Burgees. 

Ezra  Bennet.  Bathsheba  Price. 

William  Lewen.  Triphenah  Shepard. 

John  Miller.  Susanna  Hall. 

Robert  Taylor.  Alice  Hall. 

Nathan   Burges.  Peggy  Warren. 

William   Pierce.  Elisabeth   Brown. 
Gideon  Burges. 


104  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

The  first  pastor  was  Nathaniel  Cole,  pastor  from  1792  to  1833, 
a  period  of  41  years.  He  was  the  contemporary  of  Dr.  Benedict, 
for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  For  six  years  the  church  seem, 
to  have  met  at  Pond  Hill  school-house,  and  it  is  not  till  September,. 
1798,  that  a  church  meeting  at  the  meeting-house  is  recorded.  Tliat 
historic  structure  was  on  the  corner  west  of  the  pond,  on  the  Corey 
Bridge  road  near  John  Smith's,  and  came  to  be  known  as  Elder 
Cole's  meeting--house,  a  place  of  many  precious  associations  in 
Christian  experience.  After  the  lapse  of  thirty  or  forty  years  we 
find  the  people  sometimes  meeting  at  Elder  Cole's  house,  or  with 
one  of  the  brethren,  or  at  Pond  Hill  school-house.  But  September 
7,  1840,  it  was  voted,  "that  the  meetings  on  the  Sabbath  be  held 
at  the  meeting-house  in  Union  Village  the  ensuing  year.  That  was. 
just  south  of  what  is  now  Moosup,  in  a  neighborhood  called  Union. 
The  church  was  the  old  Separate  meeting-house  moved  from  the 
corner  near  Evergreen  cemetery,  and  known  as  the  South  meeting- 
house, or  the  Union  meeting-house,  and  sometimes  called  Union 
Factory  meeting-house.  A  new  and  commodious  house  of  wor- 
ship, the  present  meeting-house,  on  the  street  west  of  the  river  was 
dedicated,  January  5,  1843,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  at  a 
church  meeting  held  at  Pond  Hill  school-house,  June  18,  1840,  it 
was  voted  "That  this  church  is  hereby  dissolved."  The  church  had 
been  re-organized  as  the  Union  Plainfield  Baptist  Church.  In 
1867  the  house  was  raised  up  and  a  vestry  was  put  under  it;  and 
in  1882,  after  further  improvements,  it  was  re-dedicated  to  the  serv- 
ice of  God.  The  church  has  grown  in  numbers  to  about  200,  and 
in  usefulness.  During  the  pastorate  of  22  years  of  Rev.  J.  P. 
Brown,  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  bicentennial,  305  persons  were 
added  to  the  church.  The  pastors  have  been  Nathaniel  Cole,  C.  S. 
Weaver,  Chester  Tilden,  Thomas  Barber,  John  Read,  James 
Smither,  Frederick  Carlton,  J.  P.  Brown,  G.  F.  Raymond,  M.  J. 
Goff,  F.  B.  Joy,  C.  B.  Rockwell,  L.  W.  Frink,  J.  N.  Shipman,, 
Robert  Pegrum,  George  Kinne,  S.  W.  Delzell,  and  at  present, 
Elisha  Sanderson. 

In   the    early   history    of   the    town    there   were    one    or   two. 
Quakers,  or  friends,  who  were  released  from  the  ecclesiastical  tax„ 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    PLAINFIELD.  I05 

by  reason  of  a  certificate  of  membership  from  a  society  of  their 
own  order.  About  1807  a  number  of  Quakers  came  into  town^ 
among"  them  enterprising  men  engaged  in  manufacturing.  They 
longed  for  the  quiet  meeting  to  which  they  were  accustomed,  and 
soon  after  1805  organized  a  Society  of  Friends,  and  built  a  meet- 
ing-house on  Black  Hill,  near  the  top,  on  the  road  leading  ta 
Lucius  B.  Morgan's.  With  the  passag'e  of  time  and  its  changes 
the  building,  brown  with  age,  with  its  quaint  hopper  roof,  has  dis- 
appeared, and  nothing  remains  but  the  old  gate  to  tell  of  the  good 
people  who  once  went  up  to  that  hallowed  spot.  No  one  presided 
over  them  after  the  manner  of  the  assemblies  of  other  people  ;^^ 
"Christ  only,"  in  the  language  of  William  Penn,  "being  their  pres- 
ident, as  he  was  pleased  to  appear  in  life  and  wisdom  to  anyone  or 
more  of  them." 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Plainfield  began  its 
history  in  1825,  when  it  was  included  in  the  Norwich  circuit,  though, 
before  1800,  preachers  were  sent  here  and  occasional  services  were- 
held.  At  first,  the  church  met  in  the  old  Separate  meeting-house  on 
the  corner  near  Evergreen  cemetery  for  occasional  services  under 
the  joint  pastorate  of  Benjamin  Hazelton  and  Onesiphorus  Robbins. 
The  first  class  was  formed  June  16,  1826,  by  Benjamin  Hazelton. 
In  1829  the  church  was  united  to  the  Thompson  circuit.  Three 
years  later  there  were  13  members.  There  are  now  about  150 
After  the  great  revival  of  1842  the  church  gave  up  to  Danielson- 
ville  65  members,  the  beginning  of  a  large  church  there.  That 
same  year  they  purchased  of  the  Separatists,  or  their  successors,, 
the  old  meeting-house  which  had  been  removed  to  Union  Village. 
A  new  church  was  built  in  1871,  a  little  further  up  the  river  and' 
was  dedicated,  February  i,  1872,  during  the  pastorate  of  Rev 
Lewis  E.  Dunham.  A  few  years  after,  in  1877,  a  commodious 
parsonage  was  built  adjacent  to  the  church.  The  occasional  de- 
pression in  business  in  Moosup  has  affected  the  life  of  the  church.. 
But  seasons  of  refreshing  from  the  Lord  have  frequently  been  en- 
joyed, and  in  1875,  during  a  powerful  revival,  87  joined  the  class. 
In  1832,  when  Plainfield  circuit  was  formed,  there  were  23  in  the 
class.     The  pastors  of  the  church  have  been  numerous  since  tlie 


lo6  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

time  of  Hazelton  and  Robbins.  It  was  under  the  pastorate  of 
Rev.  A.  B.  Wheeler  that  the  first  meeting--house  was  bought, 
March  24,  1842,  the  old  Separate  church.  The  new  church,  at 
present  occupied,  was  dedicated  a  few  weeks  before  the  close  of 
the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Dunham.  Subsequent  pastors  have  been : 
E.  M.  Anthony,  W.  W.  Ellis,  George  W.  Hunt,  E.  J.  Avers.  R.  D. 
Dyson,  F.  A.  Crafts,  John  McVay,  George  H.  Butler,  Edward 
P.  Phraener,  Frederick  C.  Baker,  and  John  Oldham,  now  pastor. 

The  Packerville  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  October, 
1828,  with  21  members,  and  Rev.  Levi  Kneeland  was  ordained 
pastor.  During  his  pastorate  of  about  six  years  the  church  re- 
■ceived  316  members.  The  people  were  ready  for  a  church.  Daniel 
Packer,  who  had  settled  in  the  place  in  1825  and  was  engaged  in 
manufacturing,  greatly  promoted  the  cause  of  religion.  In  the 
summer  of  1829  a  suitable  meeting-house  was  built,  a  fine  lot  for 
church  buildings  and  a  cemetery  having  been  given  by  Joseph 
Farnum.  Mr.  Packer  also  built  a  good  parsonage  and  before  his 
death  gave  the  property  to  the  church.  His  son,  Elisha  Packer, 
has  been  a  friend  and  helper  to  the  church.  In  1875  a  fine  chapel 
was  built  near  the  meeting-house.  An  interesting  account  of  the 
church  is  to  be  found  in  the  Plainfield  Souvenir,  written  by  Rev. 
A.  A.  Robinson,  who  has  ministered  to  the  church  for  the  past 
twelve  years,  a  venerable  and  beloved  pastor.  The  pastors  have 
l)een :  Tubal  Wakefield,  Martin  Byrne,  Daniel  D.  Lyon,  Silas 
Hall,  John  B.  Guild,  Alfred  Gates,  John  Paine,  Percival  Mathew- 
son,  George  B.  Northrup,  Warren  N.  W^alden,  O.  B.  Rawson, 
J.  F.  Temple,  A.  A.  Robinson.  In  June,  1865,  the  church  ordained 
as  an  evangelist,  Lucian  Burleigh,  a  life-long  school-master,  and 
for  a  time  preceptor  of  Plainfield  Academy. 

The  Central  Village  Congregational  Church  was  organized, 
April  15,  1846,  the  North  Plainfield  Ecclesiastical  Society  having 
been  formed  in  1845.  Forty-five  persons  were  dismissed  from 
the  first  church  to  constitute  the  new  plant.  These  people  had  for 
sometime  been  meeting  in  the  old  brick  school-house,  a  little  south 
of  the  village,  but  were  preparing  a  house  of  their  own,  and  dedi- 
cated their  church  in  January,   1846,  Rev.  Orrin  Fowler,  then  of 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    PLAINFIELD.  IO7 

Fall  River,  Mass.,  coming-  to  preach  the  sermon.  The  church  has 
walked  in  fellowship  with  the  old  church  from  which  it  sprung 
and  has  proved  itself  a  planting  of  the  Lord.  In  1896  it  observed 
the  semi-centennial  anniversary  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  C.  M. 
Lord,  who  has  given  a  graphic  account  of  the  church  in  a  pamph- 
let devoted  to  the  anniversary  occasion.  The  pastors  of  the 
church,  which  now  numbers  about  80  members,  have  been: 
Jared  O.  Knapp,  James  Bates,  William  E.  Barrett,  George  Hall, 
Paul  Couch,  George  Huntington,  J.  R.  Barnes,  J.  D.  Moore,  G.  J. 
Tillotson,  John  Avery,  John  Marsland,  W.  B.  Clark,  Asher  H. 
Wilcox,  Dighton  Moses,  George  H.  Morss,  Orlando  M.  Lord, 
Henry  C.  Crane. 

The  Congregational  Church  in  Wauregan  was  organized  June 
17,  1856.     For  two  or  three  years  meetings  for  prayer  had  been 
held  from  house  to  house,  and  a  Sabbath  school  had  been  formed 
in  1854,  which  has  met  continuously  since  that  hopeful  beginning. 
A  hall  was  built  in  1855  for  public  worship,  the  first  sermon 
being  preached  by  Rev.  G.  J.  Tillotson,  of  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  and 
January  i,  1856,  Rev.  Charles  L.  Ayer  was  engaged  by  the  Wau- 
regan Mills  to  minister  statedly  to  the  people.     At  the  organiza- 
tion  of   the   church   there   were    10   members.     The    sermon   was 
preached  by  Rev.  George  Soaile,  of  Hampton,  from  the  text,  i  Tim. 
3:15,  "The  church  of  the  living  God."     The  church  in  Wauregan, 
the  Pleasant  Valley  of  the  Indians,  has  grown  to  about  76  members. 
The  way  in  which  God  has  led  his  people  there  is  told  in  valuable 
historic    discourses   preached   by   the   present    pastor,    Silenus    H. 
Fellows,  in  the  centennial  year  of  our  land  and  on  occasion  of 
the  25th   and  the  38th  anniversary   of  the  church.     In    1872   the 
Wauregan  Company  appropriated  $10,000  for  a  church  building. 
The  corner  stone  was  laid  May  10,  1873,  and  the  beautiful  church 
was  dedicated,  January  29,  1874,  Rev.  Daniel  Merriman  preaching 
the  sermon  from  Acts  4:32.     About  five  years  ago   a  handsome 
parsonage  was  built  near  the  church.     In  a  place  where  the  popula- 
tion is  continually  changing,  this  church  has  exerted  a  most  bene- 
iicent  influence.     The  pastors  have  been:     C.  L.  Ayer,  1856-1858; 


Io8  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

E.  F.  Brooks,  1858-1859;  S.  H.  Fellows,  December  19,  1859  to  the 
present. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  AIoosup,  All  Hallows  Church, 
w^as  formed  in  1859.  In  common  with  other  manufacturing  towns- 
of  Eastern  Connecticut,  the  passage  of  years  has  brought  to  the 
town  of  Plainfield  a  steady  and  rapid  increase  in  its  Catholic  popula- 
tion. The  first  Catholic  residents  of  whom  there  are  any  record 
were  two  Irish  families  who  settled  in  Almyville  where  the  old  mill 
was  built  about  sixty  years  ago.  Their  mumber  was  slowly  in- 
creased by  the  coming  of  others,  until  about  1840,  when  the  first 
mass  was  said  in  a  dwelling  house  at  Almyville  by  a  priest  who  had 
come  from  Worcester  for  that  purpose:  occasional  services  were 
held  during  the  following  years.  In  1859  the  Bishop  of  the  Dio- 
cese commissioned  the  Rev.  Michael  McCabe,  of  Danielsonville,. 
to  found  a  permanent  parish  at  Moosup.  Land  was  at  once 
purchased,  a  church  was  built  and  in  the  spring  of  i860  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  service  of  God.  The  first  resident  pastor  was  the  Rev, 
P.  B.  Daley,  who  then  had  within  his  jurisdiction  not  only  the 
town  of  Plainfield,  but  also  Sterling  and  other  neighboring  towns. 
In  1870  the  number  of  Catholics  had  so  increased  in  the  Waure- 
gan  section  of  the  town  that  a  church  was  built  in  that  village 
in  West  Wauregan,  in  Brooklyn.  It  was  attended  from  the  Moosup 
Church  until  1889,  when  it  was  made  an  independent  parish.  The 
old  parochial  residence  at  Moosup  was  destroyed  bv  fire  in  May, 
1893,  and  the  present  handsome  residence  was  erected  in  its 
stead.  The  number  of  Catholics  has  growm  from  the  thirty  who- 
attended  the  first  service  to  about  2.700  souls,  1.500  at  Moosup, 
and  1,200  at  Wauregan.  The  church  has  prospered,  says  the  Rev. 
Father  Broderick,  both  spiritually  and  materially ;  the  old  church 
has  been  renovated,  the  grounds  beautified,  and  additional  land 
bought  in  the  rear  of  the  church ;  and  this  spring  a  fine  tract  of 
ten  acres  was  bought  on  the  Danielson  road  to  be  used  for  ceme- 
tery purposes.  The  Catholics  of  Plainfield  look  forv^^ard  to  the 
time  when  a  new  and  larger  edifice  shall  replace  the  present  in- 
adequate structure. 

The  Wauregan  mission  improved  and  beautified  its  church 
building  during  Father  Creedon's  pastorate,  at  Moosup,  and  since 
it  became  an  independent  parish,  a  parochial  residence  has  been 
built,  a  good  water  supply  put  in,  a  new  cemetery  opened  and 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    PLAIx\FIELD. 


109 


the  entire  property  of  Sacred  Heart  Church  improved.  The  history 
•of  Cathohcity  in  Watireg-an  has  been  given  in  the  Plainfield  Sou- 
venir by  Rev.  A.  O'Keefe. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Moosup  Churcli,  the  following 
clergymen  have  had  successive  charge  of  the  parish  :  P.  B.  Daley, 
J.  J.  McCabe,  James  Quinn,  F.  Belanger,  J.  F.  Quinn,  D.  Des- 
mond, P.  M.  Kennedy,  J.  A.  Creedon,  J.  H.  Broderick,  the  present 
incumbent  to  whom  this  sketch  is  largely  due.  Rev.  A.  O'Keefe 
was  the  first  resident  pastor  of  the  Wauregan  parish,  and  continues 
in  that  office,  his  pastorate  dating  from  May  20,   1889. 

Thus  these  churches  have  taken  their  place  and  part  in  the 
history  of  the  town,  each  worshipping  God  after  its  own  order,  and 
all  striving  for  one  and  the  same  thing — the  promotion  of  the 
kingdorft  of  God,  which  is  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

The  ninety-two  or  more  pastors  named  here  who  have  tended 
these  several  flocks  under  the  one  Shepherd,  have  most  of  them 
passed  to  their  account,  but  their  work  continues  and  the  churches 
•continue.  Among  them  were  men  eminent  for  devoted  piety  and 
sound  scholarship.  The  history  of  Plainfield  Academy,  which  is 
yet  to  be  written,  records  their  frequent  services  as  rectors  and 
teachers,  their  unwearied  efforts  in  the  cause  of  education,  and 
their  just  pride  in  the  noble  influence  of  that  school  to  which 
■every  speaker  and  every  paper  here  has  made  reference.  The 
military  history  ol  the  town  recounts  the  services  of  these  pastors 
in  times  of  peril  and  of  war,  and  tells  us  that  some  of  them  went  to 
the  field  of  bloody  strife,  to  the  sick  and  the  wounded,  bearing 
the  message  of  comfort  and  salvation. 

The  following  have  been  named  as  ministers  raised  up  in  Plain- 
field,  but  doubtless  there  are  others : 

Thomas  Stephens.  '     John  D.  Perkins. 

Josiah   Whitney,  D.  D.  George  Perkins. 

Josiah   Spalding.  Richard  H.  Benedict. 

Elijah   Parish,  D.  D.  Evan  M.  Johnson. 

Alfred  Johnson.  George  Shepard,  D.  D. 

Jonathan  Kinne.  Edward  J.  Fuller. 

Thomas  Andros.  Lucian  Burleigh. 

William  F.  Rowland.  Cyrus  Marsh. 
Ariel  Parish. 


no  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 


PLAINFIELD'S  MILITARY  RECORD. 


Charles  F.  Burgess  and  Frank  H.  Tillinghast. 


In  the  stirring  series  of  events  which  have  marked  the  growth 
and  advancement  of  New  England,  the  town  of  Plainfield  has^ 
during  her  two  hundred  years  of  existence,  well  and  honorably 
borne  her  part.  Of  the  early  struggles  and  conflicts  with  the 
aborigines  the  records  partake  largely  of  tradition,  and  even  when 
we  come  to  later  times  and  more  authentic  sources  of  informa- 
tion only  a  passing  glance  can  be  given  at  the  principal  events, 
in  the  limited  space  allotted  to  this  chapter. 

In  the  Indian  War  of  1704  the  inhabitants  of  Plainfield  bravely 
so'Ug'ht  to  defend  their  homes,  and  pains  were  taken  to  keep  favor 
with  the  friendly  Quinebaugs.  A  train  band  was  formed  with 
Thos.  Williams  for  ensign  and  Samuel  Howe  for  sergeant,  and 
guard-houses  and  scouts  were  maintained,  equipped,  and  supplied 
with  ammunition.  Guards  were  stationed  about  the  meeting-house 
on  Sunday  and  watch-houses  were  maintained  in  exposed  parts 
of  the  town.  In  1756  certain  French  prisoners  of  war  were 
billeted  upon  the  town.  These  were  some  of  the  neutral  inhabi- 
tants of  Acadia  who  had  been  torn  from  their  homes  and  native 
country  after  the  conquest  of  Nova  Scotia  by  the  English  and 
were  now  distributed  among  the  towns  of  New  England.  Forty- 
three  of  these  unhappy  Acadians  were  assigned  to^  Windham  Coun- 
ty, but  Plainfield  was  the  only  town  that  officially  and  publicly 
made  provisions  for  them.  In  1769  Timothy  Pierce,  of  Plainfield, 
is  named  as  among  the  "heroic  forty"  adventurous  Yankees  who 
descended   upon   the   "Pennymites"    at   Wyoming. 

Among  Plainfield  men,  prominent  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  were  Ezekiel  Pierce,  Benjamin  Lee  and  Isaac  Coit,  wha 
was  given  the  rank  of  captain.  The  latter  led  a  volunteer  com- 
pany from  Windham  County  directly  after  the  capture  of  Fort 
William  Henry  by  Montcalm.  Captain  Israel  Putnam's  second 
company  was  largely  made  up  of  Plainfield  men. 

In  the  great  struggle  of  the  American  Revolution,  Plainfield 


PLAINFIELD  S    MILITARY    RECORD.  Ill 

was  a  prominent  and  honored  participant.  A  brigade  training  at 
Plainfield  in  1773  is  especially  memorable  for  inciting  the  first 
spark  of  military  enthusiasm  in  Nathaniel  Greene,  who  after- 
wards won  high  rank  among  revolutionary  commanders.  On  the 
passage  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  in  June,  1774,  the  people  were 
aflame  with  indignation,  and  sympathetic  words  for  the  suffering 
inhabitants  of  Boston  were  followed  by  helpful  gifts,  Plainfield 
sending  her  flocks  of  fine  sheep  and  appointing  a  committee  to 
receive  subscriptions  for  the  common  cause. 

In  1775,  April  19th,  the  historic  Lexington  alarm  found  the 
people  of  this  town  in  a  way  prepared  and  they  needed  but  little 
stimulus  tO'  move  to  the  relief  of  Boston. 

The  contribution  of  Plainfield  for  the  first  alarm  consisted  of' 
54  men,  under  Captain  Andrew  Backus,  Ensign  Abraham  Shepard 
and  Joshua  Bottom ;  many  of  the  men  who  went  out  on  the  first 
alarm  were  mustered  into  the  Third  regiment,  of  which  Israel 
Putnam  was  colonel. 

Associations  were  formed  in  many  places  throughout  the 
colonies  under  the  title  of  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  such  an  association 
was  formed  at  Plainfield.  Beacon  lights,  on  many  of  the  lofty 
hills,  served  as  signals  by  which  they  communicated  with  each 
other.  On  the  evening  of  June  6th,  the  beacon  light  on  Shepard's. 
hill  was  seen  streaming  heavenward,  a  signal  for  the  Sons  of 
Liberty  to  assemble  at  Simon  Shepard's  residence,  their  headquar- 
ters, located  where  the  Plainfield  almshouse  now  stands. 

On  the  following  day  a  horseman  drove  up  to  the  assembly 
headquarters  at  breakneck  speed.  The  man,  says  J.  S.  McGregor,, 
in  his  "Reminiscences  of  Ancient  Plainfield,"  was  greatly  exhausted 
and  was  taken  from  his  horse  and  carried  into  the  house.  The 
dispatch  was  directed  to  John  McGregor  and  read  as  follows : 

"Boston,  June  6th,  1775. 
"Captain  John  McGregor, 

"Dear  Sir  :— 

"Forward  your  men  to  Boston  as   soon  as  possible.     They 

will  be  needed  soon. 

"Your  Friend, 

"Israel  Putnam." 


'112  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

The  following  night  was  a  sleepless  one  for  Plainfield,  and 
■early  the  next  morning  the  Sons  of  Liberty  left  home  and  wound 
their  way  over  hills  and  through  valleys  until  they  reached  Boston. 
On  the  9th  this  little  band  of  patriots  filed  into  one  of  the  redoubts 
where  Putnam  was  waiting  to  receive  them. 

On  the  17th  they  took  an  active  part  in  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill  and  some  of  these  men  served  until  Washington  disbanded  his 
army. 

The  old  sword  which  Capt.  John  McGregor  had  pre'sented  to 
him  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty  is  in  possession  of  J.  S.  McGregor. 

Upon  the  first  authorized  call  for  troops  the  Sixth  regiment, 
Col.  Parson's,  recruited  from  New  London,  Hartford  and  Middle- 
sex Counties.  The  sixth  company  of  this  regiment  was  formed 
from  Plainfield.  Captain,  Waterman  Clifts ;  First  Lieutenant,  Wm. 
Edwards ;  Second  Lieutenant,  John  McGregor ;  Ensign,  Nathaniel 
Morgan ;  five  sergeants,  four  corporals,  eighty-one  privates,  one 
drummer,  two  fifers.  This  company  remained  on  duty  at  New  Lon- 
don until  June  17th,  when  it  was  ordered  by  the  Governor's  Council, 
to  Boston  Camps,  where  it  took  post  at  Roxbury  and  remained  until 
•expiration  of  term  of  service,  December  loth,  1775. 

We  find  the  following  Plainfield  men :  In  Tenth  Continentals, 
First  Lieutenant  John  McGregor  and  Ensign  Lemuel  Clifts;  in 
Seventeenth  Continentals,  Ensign  Anthony  Bradford ;  in  Twen- 
tieth Continentals,  Col.  Durkee  and  Capt.  Wills  Clifts. 

In  the  Eighth  regiment,  of  which  Jedidiah  Huntington,  of  Nor- 
wich, was  colonel,  John  Douglass,  of  Plainfield,  was  lieutenant  colo- 
nel, and  was  also  captain  of  the  second  company.  In  June,  i777' 
he  was  promoted  to  general,  which  position  he  held,  being  on  active 
■duty  during  the  war. 

In  the  Third  and  Fourth  regiments.  Continental  Line,  we  find 
the  following  Plainfield  men :  Wills  Clift,  major  Third  regiment ; 
Fourth  regiment,  Captain  John  McGregor,  commissioned  January 
1st,  1777;  retired  January  ist,  1781. 

The  latter  regiment  was  recruited  mainly  from  Windham  and 
-New  London  Counties.     It  went  into  camp  at  Peekskill  in  the  spring 


plainfield's  military  record.  113 

of  1777,  engag-ed  in  the  battle  of  Germantown,  and  wintered  at 

Valley  Forge,  '77- 7^- 

In  the  formation  of  the  Third  and  Fourth  regiments,  in  1781, 
this  town  was  represented  by  Major  Wills  Clift,  Capt.  Simon  Spald- 
ing, and  Capt.  Lemuel  Clifts,  whose  company  helped  form  a  bat- 
talion and  was  attached  to  Lafayette  Light  division  at  the  siege  of 
Yorktown.  In  the  famous  Connecticut  Cincinnati  Society,  Capt. 
Simon  Spalding  was  the  only  original  member  from  this  town. 

The  system  of  enrollment  throughout  the  war  was  very  imper- 
fect, but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  town  of  Plainfield 
fulfilled  every  requisition.  Of  fifteen  hundred  men  raised  by  Con- 
necticut, in  May,  1780,  for  the  Southern  Campaign,  Plainfield 
furnished  sixteen. 

It  was  resolved  at  the  special  session  of  the  Legislature,  in  April, 
1775,  that  three  thousand  stand  of  arms  be  procured  for  the  colony 
of  the  following  dimensions,  to  wit : 

"The  length  of  the  barrel  three  feet  and  ten  inches  ;  the  diameter 
of  the  bore  from  inside  to  inside  three-quarters  of  an  inch  ;  the  length 
of  the  bayonet  fourteen  inches,  the  length  of  the  socket  four  inches 
and  one-quarter,  that  the  barrels  be  of  suitable  thickness  with  iron 
ramrods  and  a  spring  in  the  lowest  loop  to  secure  the  ramrods ;  a 
good  substantial  lock  and  a  good  stock  well  mounted  with  brass  and 
marked  with  the  name  or  initial  letters  of  the  makers'  name." 
Col.  Records,  Vol.  XIV.,  p.  420. 

At  the  May  session,  the  rations  of  the  troops  was  fixed  as 
follows : 

"Three-fourths  of  a  pound  of  pork  or  one  pound  of  beef;  one 
pound  of  bread  or  fiour ;  three  pints  of  beer  to  each  man  per  day ; 
beef  to  be  fresh  two  days  in  a  week ;  also  a  half  pint  of  rice  or  a  pint 
of  Indian  meal ;  six  ounces  of  butter  and  three  pints  of  peas  or 
beans  each  man  per  week.  Soldiers  on  fatigue  duty  were  to  be 
allowed  one  gill  of  rum  each  per  day  and  at  no  other  time.  Milk, 
candles,  soap,  molasses,  vinegar,  coffee,  chocolate,  sugar,  tobacco 
and  vegetables  in  season,  were  to  be  provided,  subject  to  the  order 
of  general  and  field  officers." 

The  ranks  of  officers  in   1775  was  distinguished  by  different 


114  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

colored  ribbons,  which  they  were  directed  to  wear.  Troops  were 
generally  without  uniform. 

The  regimental  colors,  in  1775,  of  the  Sixth  regiment,  was 
azure  ;  Eighth  regiment,  orange. 

In  the  regular  army — War  of  1812 — Square  Cady  and  Stephen 
Bennett  went  from  this  town.  Mr.  Bennett's  widow  living  on  Black 
Hill  is  still  a  pensioner  of  this  war.  Her  husband  entered  the  war 
at  19  years  of  age ;  was  drafted  into  the  service  at  first  and  after- 
wards went  as  a  substitute  for  Emerson  Kinne.  Martin  Herrick 
and  Leonard  Pickett  also-  were  engaged  in  this  war,  from  Plain- 
field,  with  many  others,  whose  names  are  difficult  to  obtain. 

In  the  Mexican  War,  in  1846,  the  following  Plainfield  men 
went  out  in  the  regular  army :  Silas  Bailey,  John  H.  Roadman, 
Nelson  Viall,  Justus  K.  Watson,  Nathan  Weaver  and  William  H. 
Whitford. 

In  the  Third  company.  Second  regiment,  George  Middleton 
was  captain  and  Elkanah  Eaton  first  lieutenant. 

In  the  Civil  War  this  town  bore  her  part  of  the  burden  nobly 
and  well.  Space  does  not  permit  us  to  go  further  into  details  than 
to  give  the  following  names  of  Plainfield  men  whO'  sacrificed  the 
comforts  of  home  in  the  hour  of  their  country's  need : 

SECOND   REGIMENT,    CONNECTICUT   VOLUNTEERS,    INFANTRY. 
Rifle  Co.  A— Charles  Wheatley. 

THIRD   REGIMENT,    CONNECTICUT   VOLUNTEERS,   INFANTRY. 
Co.  D — Ambrose  B.  Rice. 

FIRST    SQUADRON,   CONNECTICUT   VOLUNTEERS,    CAVALRY. 
Co.  A— William  Card,  Henry  S.  Tillinghast. 

FIRST   REGIMENT,    CONNECTICUT   VOLUNTEERS,    CAVALRY. 

Co.  A — Corporals:  Henry  Lester,  James  Case.  Private:  Chas.  K.  Har- 
graves.  Co.  D— Serg-eant:  Edwin  A.  Atkins.  Co.  E— Corporal:  Washing^ton 
J.  Gadbois.  Co.  H— Nicholas  Boiselle,  Lawrence  Gilich.  Co.  I— Sergeant: 
Francis  J.  Perkins.  Quartermaster  Sergeant:  Andrew  R.  Tracy.  Co.  K— 
Wallace  L.  Slater. 

FIRST   LIGHT    BATTERY,    CONNECTICUT    VOLUNTEERS. 
Private:     Welcome  E.  Watson. 


plainfield's  military  record.  115 

first  regiment,  connecticut  volunteers, 

HEAVY  ARTILLERY. 
Co.  A— John  Branan.  Co.  D— Sergeant:  Henry  Hall.  Musician:  Chas.  A. 
Potter.  Privates:  Luther  L.  Denison,  Chas.  West.  Co.  E— Henry  C. 
Mathewson,  Joseph  Medbury.  Co.  F— Jeremiah  Sullivan.  Co.  G— Henry 
Burlingame,  Wm.  H.  Burlingame,  Samuel  H.  Donovan,  Patrick  Mulgrove, 
Edward  Sweet,  Calvin  A.  Bowers.  Co.  I— George  Gardner.  Co.  K — James 
Fanning,  Frank  Potter,  Henry  E.  Rouse. 

FIFTH  REGIMENT,  CONNECTICUT  VOLUNTEERS,  INFANTRY. 
Co.  B— Eleazer  Bordaux.  Co.  C— Peter  Farrell,  Hugh  McGahey,  Wm. 
McLaughlin.  Co.  E— Edwin  C.  Hargraves.  Corporals:  Edward  Keene, 
Daniel  H.  Matteson.  Co.  G— Musician:  John  H.  Scran  ton.  Privates:  Lucius 
Place,  Samuel  Place,  Henry  Arnt.  Co.  H— Musician:  John  H.  Bennett. 
Privates:  Henry  Kochler,  William  Holt,  Benjamin  A.  Hyde,  Perry  A.  Hyde, 
Henry  Stafford,  James  H.  McCaffrey,  Henry  J.  Parkhurst,  George  A.  Rouse, 
Alonzo  Pierce,  Barnum  S.  Rouse,  Frank  Sweiked,  Albert  Stafford,  Hiram 
Sweet,  Geo.  E.  Weaver,  John  Young,  1st,  John  Young,  2d.  Co.  I— Henry 
Lester.  Co.  K— Sergeant:  Henry  E.  Hollo  way.  Privates:  Lorenzo  Church, 
Henry  Fitzgerald. 

SIXTH   REGIMENT,    CONNECTICUT   VOLUNTEERS,    INFANTRY. 
Co.  A— Musician:  Albert  Kenyon.     First  Sergeant:  Patrick  Dillin.    Hugh 
McChine,    Hugh    McChine,    Jr.,    James    Mycue,    John    Reynolds,     Michael 
O'Brien.     Co.  B — John  Munroe. 

SEVENTH  REGIMENT,  CONNECTICUT  VOLUNTEERS,  INFANTRY. 
Co.  H— George  Shay,  John  Sullivan,  Daniel  Sullivan,  Daniel  Shay,  Miles 
Shay.    Co.  K— Daniel  J.  Phillips. 

EIGHTH  REGIMENT,  CONNECTICUT  VOLUNTEERS,  INFANTRY. 
Co.  A— Ellas  F.  Wilson.  Co.  C— Wm.  Montgomery.  Co.  F— Captain: 
Elijah  Y.  Smith.  Second  Lieutenant:  Jeremiah  M.  Shepard.  Sergeants: 
Wm.  S.  Simmons,  Albert  Austin,  George  A.  Rouse,  Joseph  D.  Lewis.  Cor- 
porals: Frank  Trask,  Samuel  Lewis,  Fred  K.  Stanton,  Edgar  G.  Tillottson. 
Privates:  George  M.  Dean,  Barnett  Duffey,  George  Fisk,  John  Foley,  Michael 
Fenton,  David  H.  Kennedy,  George  W.  Cook,  William  W.  Clark,  Henry 
McDaniels,  Wm.  Moffitt,  Asil  Mann,  John  O'Neil,  Adelbert  Perkins,  Jeremiah 
Pierce,  Chas.  A.  Potter,  Horace  G.  Rouse,  Davenport  Simmons,  Abraham 
Tillottson,  George  H.  Young,  Gilbert  T.  Perkins.  Co.  I— Reuben  S. 
Matterson. 

ELEVENTH   REGIMENT,   CONNECTICUT  VOLUNTEERS,    INFANTRY. 

Field    and    Staff— Colonel:     Randall    H.     Rice.     Quartermaster:     AJbert 

Austin.    Assistant  Surgeon:  Charles  H.  Rogers.     Co.  B— Second  Lieutenant: 


Il6  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Albert  Austin.  Co.  C — Sergeant:  Waldo  F.  Raynsford.  Co.  D — Corporal: 
Lyman  W.  Armstrong.  Privates:  Adford  Bates,  Henry  Button,  Wm.  H. 
Cole,  John  Peckham,  Stephen  Peckham.  Co.  F — Russel  C.  Andrews,  Henry 
N.  Collins,  David  Tillottson.  Co.  G — Captains:  Wm.  J.  Hyde,  Randall  H. 
Rice.  Sergeants:  John  H.  Irish,  Alfred  West.  Co.  G — Corporals:  William 
Ames,  Chas.  A.  Douglass,  Welcome  Montgomery,  Chas.  Newton,  Richard  B. 
Nickerson,  Frederick  A.  Read.  Privates:  Calvin  A.  Bowen,  William  H. 
Cole,  James  Conners,  Erastus  Dean,  Barnett  Duffey,  Willis  A.  Hall,  Henry 
Hemmick,  George  H.  Heflin,  John  Hilton,  Albert  H.  Kennedy,  John  McBay, 
Daniel  Millikin,  Thomas  Mullan,  Isaac  B.  Simmons,  Emery  H.  Tyler. 
Co.   H — Davis   Battey,  John   Ferguson.    Co.   I — George   T.   Barnsted. 

TWELFTH    REGIMENT,    CONNECTICUT     VOLUNTEERS,    INFANTRY. 

Co.  A — Corporal:  John  Burdick.  Co.  D — Wm.  Campbell,  Jared  F. 
Weaver.  Co.  H — Patrick  Rogers.  Co.  K — Corporals:  Wm.  Harney,  2d, 
Wm.  Harney,  1st. 

THIRTEENTH    REGIMENT,    CONNECTICUT   VOLUNTEERS, 
INFANTRY. 

Co.  E — Sergeants:  Stephen  R.  Peavey,  Manchester  Fuller,  Wm.  F. 
Roberts,   Fernandez  H.   Tyler,  Thomas  Wilde. 

FOURTEENTH  REGIMENT,  CONNECTICUT  VOLUNTEERS, 
INFANTRY. 

Co.  A — Henry  Brown,  Frederick  Tanner.  Co.  E — Corporal:  Sanford 
Bugbee.    Co.    F — Jeremiah   Sullivan. 

EIGHTEENTH  REGIMENT,  CONNECTICUT  VOLUNTEERS. 
INFANTRY. 
Co.  B — Sergeant:  William  A.  Trask.  Privates:  Chas.  Campbell,  Hugh 
McLaughlin,  William  H.  Pike,  Adelbert  Trask,  James  Watson.  Co.  D — 
Mitchell  Bradley.  Co.  F— Russel  M.  Brown.  Co.  I — Corporals:  Livi  C. 
Bliss,  Henry  Frink,  Wm.  H.  Bliss,  Miner  Robbins,  Solomon  Stanton.  Co. 
K — Sergeants:  Reuben  W.  Scott,  Walter  S.  Young,  Jerome  B.  Cahoone, 
James  L.  Adams.  Corporals:  Oliver  W.  Champlin,  Charles  Reynolds. 
Musician:  Daniel  Pray.  Co.  K— Privates:  John  Hughes,  Denison  P.  Jordon, 
Wm.  H.  H.  Leavens,  Reuben  A.  Pike,  John  Pike,  Wm  W.  Sweet,  Albert 
D.  Trask,  George  R.  Hall,  William  J.  Hyde,  Michael  Hopkins,  Albert  F. 
Shepardson,  James  A.  Taylor,   Edward  Brady. 

TWENTIETH  REGIMENT,  CONNECTICUT  VOLUNTEERS,  INFANTRY. 
Co.   F — James   Kelley. 


PLAINFIELD  S    MILITARY    RECORD.  117 

TWENTY-FIRST   REGIMENT,    CONNECTICUT   VOLUNTEERS, 

INFANTRY. 
Field  and  Staff— First  Assistant  Surg-eon:  Lewis  E.  Dixon.  Non-Com- 
Wiissioned  Staff— Principal  Musicians:  Albert  B.  Scranton,  Elijah  J. 
Scranton.  Co.  E— Alexander  Bliss,  George  E.  Bliss.  Co.  H— Captain: 
George  W.  Shepard.  Co.  I— Second  Lieutenant:  George  Walker.  Privates: 
Hobert  H.  Rood,,  Charles  T.  Green,  Frank  Hawkins.  Co.  K— Captain: 
Jeremiah  M.  Shepard.  First  Lieutenant:  John  F.  French.  Second  Lieu- 
tenants: Harry  L.  Wilson,  John  L.  Shepard.  Sergeants:  Henry  S.  Call, 
Ag-ustus  Shepardson,  George  W.  Shepard,  William  F.  Walker.  Corporals: 
Rufus  S.  Dixon,  George  Preston,  Willis  D.  Rouse,  James  K.  Watson,  John 
A.  Wells.  Musicians:  Albert  B.  Scranton,  Elijah  J.  Scranton.  Privates: 
Christopher  Lyon,  Thomas  Maryott,  Adam  Thatcher,  Edward  G.  Bennett, 
Xiucius  H.  Bushnell,  Chas.  C.  Card,  Chas.  H.  Chapman,  Wm.  H.  Cole, 
Daniel  Danforth,  Aaron  W.  Eldredge,  John  W.  Fisk,  John  M.  Freeman, 
James  Galvin,  James  Ireland,  Erastus  Kinne,  George  Leary,  Andrew 
Morraty,  Henry  F.  Newton,  Benjamin  Nye,  James  W.  Phillips,  Ephraim 
Pickett,  William  Pickett,  Nehemiah  Potter,  John  F.  Rix,  Edwin  G.  Shepard- 
son, Amos  Shippee,  Reuben  Spalding,  Benjamin  Starkweather,  Wilcott 
Strong,  Edward  Sweet,  Nathaniel  P.  Thompson,  Clovis  Wakefield,  Isaac 
Whitaker,  Zachariah  Whitehead,   George  E.  Young. 

TWENTY'-SIXTH    regiment,    CONNECTICUT    A^OLUNTEERS, 

INFANTRY. 
Co.  G — Albert  J.  Burlingame. 

TWENTY-NINTH   (COLORED)   REGIMENT. 

Co.  A— Henry  McKeney.     Co.  H— Wm.  H.  Brown,  1st.     Co.  I— Joseph  P, 

iBrown. 

PLAINFIELD  MEN  IN  REGULAR  ARMY. 

Lawton    N.    Brown,    U.    S.    Signal    Corps.    William    C.    Foster,    Eighth 

Infantry,  U.  S.  A. 

THE   FOLLOWING   MEN    FROM   THIS    TOWN    ENLISTED   IN 
OTHER  STATES: 

Tenth  Rhode  Island,  Light  Battery— William  Almy,  Alphonso  Bennett, 
Henry  A.  Boss,  Elijah  D.  Collins,  James  Ci'ook,  James  Curran,  Michael  J. 
Fagan,  Patrick  Kelley,   Francis  Perkins,  Oliver  A.  Potter. 

First  Rhode  Island,  Light  Artillery.     Battery  A— Henry  F.   Clark. 

Fourth  Rhode  Island,  Artillery.     Co.  A— Daniel  H.   Cobb. 

First  Rhode  Island,  Light  Artillery.  Co.  B— Michael  Kean.  Co.  E— 
Edward  McCaffi'ey.     Co.   C— Prank  E.  Montgomery,   Henry  A.  Preston. 

Third  Rhode  Island,  Heavy  Artillery— Joseph  R.   Hall. 

First  Rhode  Island,   Cavalry.     Co.   F— Russel  Madison. 

Fourth  Rhode  Island,  Infantry.  Co.  A— Samuel  Ames,  Benjamin  Jordon. 
Co.  D — James  Rigney. 

First  Rhode  Island,  Infantry.     Co.  G— Justus  K.  Watson. 

Twelfth  Rhode  Island,  Infantry.  Co.  A— Alexander  Cole.  Co.  H— Aaron 
'W.  Eldrich.     Co.  K— Edward  Macomber. 


Il8  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

IN  THE  AMERICAN-SPANISH  WAR 

Plainfield  was  represented  in  Co.  F,  Third  Regiment,  C.  N.  G. — Captain: 
Wm.  H.  Hamilton,  of  Danielson.  Corporals:  Louis  F.  Roberts,  Samuel  N, 
Fring,  John  Lofgren,  John  E.  Dillon.  Privates:  Adolph  Boivin,  George 
Burke,  Fred  J.  Dargnault,  Medas  Gregaire,  Francis  Johnson,  George  May- 
nard,  George  McDonald,  Albert  H.  Morse,  Felix  Ohben,  Napoleon  Roberts, 
Gurdon  F.  Tracy,  John  Wood,  James  Monohan,  Patrick  Monohan. 


James  B.  Kilborn  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  was  organized  at  Central 
Village,  March  4,  1886,  with  thirty  members.  The  Post  was  named 
after  James  B.  Kilborn,  who  served  in  the  Third  Connecticut  regi- 
ment, and  re-enlisted  in  the  Eighth  Connecticut ;  was  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  Antietam ;  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  of  Co.  E  and 
was  killed  in  the  attack  on  Fort  Harrison,  September  29,  1864.  He 
resided  in  Wauregan,  in  1859  and  i860,  but  enlisted  at  Hartford. 

One  object  for  which  the  Post  was  organized  was  to  secure 
more  general  observance  of  Memorial  Day,  and  each  year  the  com- 
rades have  visited  all  the  cemeteries  of  the  town,  accompanied  by 
a  band  of  music  and  often  assisted  by  the  Sabbath  schools,  Sons  of 
Veterans,  and  organizations  of  the  town.  The  closing  exercises 
have  been  held  in  rotation  at  Central  Village,  Plainfield  and 
Moosup,  and  the  attendance  upon  these  occasions  has  been  large. 

At  the  first  meeting  in  May,  1887,  they  were  presented  with  a 
beautiful  silk  banner,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  on  one  side  and  the 
Post  flag  on  the  other.  The  donors  were :  Hon.  Joseph  Hutchins,. 
Hon.  Edwin  Milner,  J.  Arthur  Atwood,  Commander  Chas  B. 
Wheatley.  In  the  spring  of  1890  another  beautiful  banner  was 
presented  to  them  by  the  citizens  of  the  town,  through  Mr.  Ernest 
L.  French. 

A  part  of  the  work  of  the  Post  has  been  to  assist  the  families  of 
comrades  in  destitute  circumstances  and  to  secure  headstones  for 
unmarked  graves,  and  to  give  aid  to  widows  and  the  fatherless,  in 
their  hour  of  need. 

The  following  comrades  have  served  as  commanders :  George 
R.  Bliven,  1886  and  1891 ;  Chas.  B.  Wheatley,  1887  and  1888;  George 
Torrey,  1889;  James  Pellett,  1890;  Wm.  S.  Simmons,  1892;  H.  C. 
Torrey,  1893  and  1894;  William  Deane,  1895. 


THE    CHARTER    OF    PLAINFIELD    ACADEMY.  II9 

THE  CHARTER  OF  PLAINFIELD  ACADEMY. 


"At  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Government  and  Company  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut  in  America  hoklen  at  Hartford  on  the 
second  Thursday  of  May  Anno  Dom  1784. 

"UPON  THE  MEx\IORL\L  of  Genl  John  Douglass, Ebenezer 
Pemberton,  William  Dixon,  and  Elisha  Perkins,  Esq'rs,  Mr.  Joseph 
Eaton,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Fox,  and  other  Proprietors  of  the  New 
School  in  Plainfield,  shewing  to  this  Assembly  that  they  have  at 
^reat  expense  erected  three  valuable  buildings  in  Plainfield,  in  the 
County  of  Windham  for  the  use  of  said  School  and  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  Learning  in  said  Plainfield  in  its  various  branches. 

"Praying  that  they  may  be  established  and  made  a  body  Cor- 
porate and  Politick  and  be  known  in  Law  as  p'r  Memorial  on  File. 
"RESOLVED  by  this  Assembly,  that  Mr.  Ebenezer  Pember- 
ton, Gen'l  John  Douglass,  Major  Andrew  Backus,  Elisha  Perkins, 
Esq'r,  Mr.  William  Robinsoii,  Mr.  Samuel  Fox,  Capt.  Joshua  Dun- 
lap,  Mr.  Ebenezer  Eaton,  &  Mr.  Hezekiah  Spalding  all  of  Plain- 
field,  and  such  other  Persons  as  the  Proprietors  of  s'd  school  shall 
elect,  not  exceeding  thirteen  in  the  whole,  be,  and  they  are  hereby 
appointed,  constituted,  and  declared,  to  be  a  body  Corporate,  and 
Politick,  by  the  name  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Academick  School  in 
Plainfield. 

"And  by  that  name  they  and  their  Successors  in  said  Corpora- 
tion shall  forever  be  persons  known  and  capable  in  Law  to  acquire 
and  receive  by  all  Lawful  ways  and  means  and  to  hold,  occupy,  and 
possess  all  kinds  of  estate  both  Real  and  Personal. 

"And  to  dispose  of  the  same  by  Deed  or  other  proper  Convey- 
ance for  the  use  of  said  School,  provided  the  Rents  and  Profits  of 
such  estate  shall  not  exceed  five  hundred  pounds  Lawful  money  p'r 
annum  in  the  whole  at  any  time. 

"And  said  Corporation  shall  by  the  name  aforesaid  be  capable  in 
Law  of  sueing  or  being  sued,  and  to  plead  or  be  impleaded,  in  any 
Court  of  Law  or  equity  as  a  body  Corporate,  to  all  intents  and 


120  PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

purposes,  and  shall  from  time  to  time  oversee,  conduct,  manage, 
and  direct  the  afifairs  and  Interest  of  said  School,  and  make  and 
establish  all  necessary  orders,  Laws,  and  regulations,  for  the  Gov- 
ernment thereof,  and  to  alter  the  same  at  discretion. 

"Provided  that  no  such  Laws  and  regulations  shall  be  incon- 
sistant  with  the  Laws  of  this  state,  nor  with  the  rights  of  Yale 
College. 

"And  said  Corporation  may  and  shall  from  time  to  time  by 
their  major  vote  appoint  a  Clerk,  Treasurer,  and  other  officers  and 
Instructors,  proper  for  conducting  the  afifairs  of  said  Corporation, 
and  for  the  Government  of  said  School. 

"And  in  case  of  the  death  or  removal  of  any  member,  or  mem- 
bers of  said  Corporation,  the  surviving,  or  remaining  members, 
may  elect  others  to  supply  the  vacancies. 

"Provided  always  that  seven  of  s'd  Corporation  shall  be  resident 
Freeholders  in  Plainfield.  And  no  Person  shall  act  as  a  member 
of  said  Corporation  untill  he  hath  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  this, 
or  some  one  of  the  United  States.  And  any  seven  of  said  Corpora- 
tion shall  be  a  Quorum  with  full  power  to  transact  any  business 
proper  to  said  Corporation,  the  whole  being  notified. 

"And  said  Corporation  may  have  a  common  seal,  of  such  de- 
vice as  they  shall  adopt,  and  may  alter  the  same  at  pleasure. 

"And  all  officers  and  persons  appointed  or  employed  in  any 
office  or  trust  by  or  under  said  Corporation  shall  be  accountable 
to  their  Constituants  for  their  doings  in  such  office  and  may  be 
superceeded  or  displaced  at  discretion. 

"A  true  Copy  of  Record, 

"Examin'd 

"By  George  Wyllys,  Secret." 


POEM    BY    JOHN    TROLAND.  121 


PLAINFIELD'S  BICENTENNIAL. 


August  31,   1899. 


Two  hundred  years !     What  queries,  starting  hence, 
Traverse  the  bound  where  memory's  verge  grows  dim 

As  when,  betimes,  from  some  proud  eminence 
The  eye  would  pierce  beyond  horizon's  rim ! 

What  vision  comes  to  us  from  that  dim  age? 

What  answering  message  from  that  pilgrim  band? — 
We  read  not  all  of  it  from  history's  page — 

W^e  sec  it  in  the  works  they  wrought  and  planned. 

Here  came  they, — not  as  prowling  victors  come 

A  fabled  El  Dorado's  wealth  to  find. 
But,  loving  freedom,  here  to  found  a  home 

And  gain  the  greater  conquests  of  the  mind. 

Not  flowering  meads,  with  fruits  on  every  side, 
That  pampered  ease  might  paint  or  fain  possess, 

Open  on  their  gaze,  but  tarn  and  forest  wide. 
With  rock-strewn  vistas  in  a  wilderness. 

A  wilderness  wherein  no  manna  fell 

At  prophet's  word,  nor  bright  shechinah's  flame 

Flashed  on  the  way,  but  in  their  hearts  full  well 
They  knew,  the  Hand  that  led  them  was  the  same. 

Anon,  the  forest  yielded  to  their  toil ; 

The  rocky  hillsides  and  primeval  mould 
Beneath  their  stroke  became  productive  soil. 

And  flowed  with  milk  and  honey,  as  of  old. 

Prodigious  powers  evolved  from  frugal  fare ! 

Those  stalwart  sires  and  sons, — well-nourished,  all — 
Ready  with  axe  to  lay  a  forest  bare 

Or  quick  to  muster  at  the  Country's  call. 


PLAINFIELD    BICENTENNIAL. 

Matrons  and  maids — whose  virtues  stood  the  test- 
Throve  mid  the  hardships  of  that  ruder  time, 

Endured  the  stress  of  new-made  homes  and  blest 
Them  with  the  comforts  of  a  faith  subhme. 

It  meets  not,  that  a  race  new-born — new-bred — • 
That  reaps  the  vantage  over  which  tJiey  toiled. 

Withholding  praise,  should  toss  its  loftier  head 
Or  grasp  reluctant  with  its  hand  unsoiled. 

Nay,  nay !  with  deeper  pride,  from  hearts  elate, 
Full  tribute  to  the  past  we  yield,  and  pray, 

Such  grace  be  shed  forever  on  our  state 
As  made  old  Plainlield  what  it  is  to-day ! 


John  Troland. 


Fims. 


V-3»        \   \^      \    VO^ 


